Big pharma wants you to believe high drug prices are necessary to fund the R & D that results in new cures. That’s false. Few, if any, private pharmaceutical companies perform basic research, which is funded mostly by taxpayers, and then private companies profit from the commercial exploitation of that research. R & D spending usually accounts for little more than 10% of what you pay for drugs, and sometimes less. Typically, a drug company’s biggest expense is marketing — i.e., getting your doctor to prescribe the drug to you — but in some cases, profit approaches or even exceeds 50% of what you pay for pills. See chart below. (Source: CBS News)
