Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18070

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Publication type: Journal Article

Hopkins Tanne J
FDA chief wants other rich countries to share drug development costs
BMJ 2003 Oct 11; 327:(7419):830
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/327/7419/830-d

Abstract:

Trying to make new drugs “affordable, safe, and innovative” is a “global crisis,” said Mark McClellan, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, in a speech to the first international colloquium on generic medicine in Cancun, Mexico. He said the United States was paying too high a price for developing new drugs and called for other rich countries to share development costs, perhaps in proportion to their national income.

Developing a new drug costs more than $800m (£480m; €690m), Dr McClellan said. As countries tighten their price regulations, drug companies might reduce investment in some products and shift to “lifestyle drugs,” such as drugs for erectile dysfunction and other products whose price won’t be regulated.

“If we do not find better ways to share the burden of developing new drugs and biologics, all of us will suffer. The benefits of these treatments are global,” . . .