Everyone should be able to get the medications they need at a price they can afford. But drug prices are still out of control, driven by high launch prices and price hikes that Big Pharma alone control. And a new analysis from AHIP shows that in most cases, more of the dollars spent by drug manufacturers go toward selling and marketing costs than toward research and development (R&D) for new treatments, cures, or expanded indications and uses of existing drugs.
The AHIP analysis examined the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies by revenue in 2020. Using pharmaceutical companies’ own annual reports and other financial filings, AHIP compared spending on research and development with a combination of selling, general, and administrative costs. In the analysis, selling and marketing costs constituted the bulk of spending for selling, general, and administrative costs.
