H/T Ed Silverman, featured at late of Pharmalot, for this -- and, as this blog begins to bend toward the general topic of reforming the health-care delivery system in the Americas -- FINALLY, even the health insurance industry is ready to "name names" -- about how to reduce the waste in the United States Healthcare delivery [non-]system -- watch the first bit, particularly:
Note that the expense figures (the supposed-15 percent of all US health-care spending) for R & D are -- in fact -- very, very pliable numbers. They may be "fudged" in an almost-endless array of feats of accounting ledger-domain. And so, I'd be very skeptical about that figure being as large as claimed by pharmaceutical companies, here. In any event -- the take-away is this:
. . . .The researchers' estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of $235.4 billion." Gagnon estimates that the pharmaceutical industry "spent approximately $61,000 in promotion per physician during 2004". . . .
[And from the Humana video:] Wider adoption of generic drugs would save the United States some $25 billion, annually. . . .
