Bernie Sanders Just Embarrassed Big Pharma on Twitter
Though drug companies tend to justify high drug prices, in part, by citing investments in research and development, not everyone buys that argument.
In response to a tweet from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the top lobbying arm of the industry, which touted $58.8 billion in R&D spending in 2015, Sanders wrote: "Actually 89 out of the top 100 pharmaceutical corporations spent more on marketing and sales than on R&D."
He was referring to a 2014 report from the health care research firm GlobalData, which revealed how drug companies invest more on efforts to sell their products than innovate them. Take Johnson & Johnson, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, for example; in 2013, the company spent $17.5 billion on marketing and only $8.2 billion on research and development, BBC reported.
It's certainly true that research and development represents a costly investment that factors into drug prices, but some experts have raised questions about the extent to which R&D actually determines these prices given the disproportionate spending on marketing.