Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9246

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Cutler DM.
The demise of the blockbuster?
N Engl J Med 2007 Mar 29; 356:(13):1292-3
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/extract/356/13/1292

Abstract:

When Pfizer announced that it was halting clinical testing of its new cholesterol drug, torcetrapib, the company’s market value fell by $21 billion overnight. Ten thousand job cuts followed. The ongoing promise of nearly $3 billion in annual sales vanished when Merck pulled Vioxx (rofecoxib) from the shelves, and the company’s market value fell by $25 billion. For decades, blockbuster drugs have nourished Big Pharma, but it is increasingly uncertain whether they can be counted on to support the industry in the future.

Prescription medications are extremely costly to develop and market. The cost of bringing a new drug to . . .

Keywords:
MeSH Terms: Chemistry, Pharmaceutical/economics* Chemistry, Pharmaceutical/trends Commerce Drug Costs Drug Industry/economics* Economic Competition*/trends Humans Prescription Fees Prescriptions, Drug/economics United States