Citations in support of the Washington Post Op-Ed
An Innovative Drug Industry? Well, No
By Peter Lansbury
Washington Post, Sunday, November 16, 2003;
Page B02
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(1) "the FDA classified 53% of the drugs approved between 1982 and 1991 as offering "little or no therapeutic gain"
Report by Public Citizen (www.citizen.org) on the Pharmaceutical Industry: The Case Against the Drug Industry's R & D "Scare Card", table 5
A relevant study by the National Institute for Health Care and Management Foundation states that only 15% of the 1035 drugs approved between 1989 and 2000 were deemed by the FDA as "providing significant improvement over existing medicines".
(2) between 1996 and 2001 "industry's spending on research and development increased 40%, but the number of new drugs reaching the market decreased by 50%"
BM Bolten and T DeGregorio, "Trends in Development Cycles", Nature Reviews/Drug Discovery 2002, 1, 335-336
A very relevant editorial cites similar data and asks "Can we panic yet?": Nature Reviews/Drug Discovery 2003, 2, 87.
(3) "Of the 31 blockbuster drugs launched between 1992 and 2001, 23 were me-too drugs"
P Ma and R Zemmel, "Value of Novelty?", Nature Reviews/Drug Discovery 2002, 1, 571-2.
(4) over 80% of Neurontin revenues come from unapproved uses
"Drug Firm Seen Skirting FDA OK", Boston Globe Nov. 2, 2002
(5) The pharmaceutical industry in the most profitable industry in the world.
See the Public Citizen report cited above and Fortune magazine's list of the most profitable industries.
(6) 40%-50% of all drug use is for off-label uses
"How Drug Directory Helps Raise Tab for Medicaid and Insurers", Wall St. Journal Oct. 23, 2003