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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