New Drug Development Costs $2.6 Billion

According to Tufts, it takes $2.6 billion to develop a new drug. The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development calculates the amount of money actually spent is nearly $1.4 billion and almost another $1.2 billion for opportunity costs. Their cost analysis included 10 drug makers on 16 randomly selected drugs that were first tested in humans worldwide from 1995 to 2007.

However, the Tufts Center calculation has many critics. They note that 40% of the center’s findings come from the pharmaceutical industry. This has started accusations that Tufts is justifying rising costs and rising prices for drugs. Critics also believe the centers transparency is an issue. The center presented a slideshow presentation about the methodology but the complete study will not be published until next year. 

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