How Much Does a New Medicine Really Cost?

The estimate for the cost of bringing a single new medicine successfully to market is generally accepted to be around $1b, based on study data published in 2003 and subsequently adjusted for inflation. However, a paper was published last month that reworks some of this same data, and suggests that the true cost might be much lower: close to $55m! This paper has been picked up by some media outlets and provoked something of a furore… and opened an interesting discussion about how such figures are calculated. Andrew Smith reports, and wonders whether the analysis should be updated from scratch.

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