Drugs by the numbers
What do they say?
- Value of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry in 2003 (including shipments,
exports, imports and consumption): $104 billion
- Value of the industry in 1993: $46 billion
- Number of registered pharmaceutical industry lobbyists in Washington,
D.C., in 2003: 1,274
- Number of drug industry lobbyists who were former members of Congress: 40
- Amount spent by the pharmaceutical industry on lobbying in Washington
in 2003: $143 million
- Number of industries that spent more: 0
- Average number of years it takes to develop and test a drug for
the U.S. market: 15
- Percentage of drugs in phase-1 clinical trials that eventually
win approval for marketing: 21.5
- Percentage of U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists surveyed
in 2002 who said they had been pressured to recommendapproval of a new
drug despite reservations about its safety, effectiveness or quality:18
- Number of new drug applications approved by the FDA in 2004: 119
- Number of these drugs considered by the FDA to be significant
advances over existing treatments: 29
- Median profit (as percentage of sales) of the 10 biggest American
drug companies in 2002: 17
- Median profit (as percentage of sales) of the other Fortune 500
companies that year: 3
- Percent of revenues spent by pharmaceutical companies on marketing
and administration: 30
- Amount budgeted by the U.S. government in 2005 to combat AIDS
in Africa and other poor regions: $2.8 billion
- Amount in the National Institutes of Health 2005 budget: $27.9
billion
- Amount spent worldwide on Viagra purchases in 2003: $1.9
billion
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