I share this update today, because of a recent interaction I had with a young pharmaceutical rep who insisted that:

1- pharmaceutical companies make almost no profit

2- pharmaceutical companies are the ONLY industry in the US that "takes a risk"

3- taxpayers don't pay for the research and development of drugs

US Tax Dollars Funded (nearly) Every New Pharmaceutical in the Last Decade

"The increase in pharmaceutical sales has also generated enormous profits for the pharmaceutical industry. In another study, we recently showed that from 2000 to 2018, 35 large pharmaceutical companies had cumulative revenue of $11.5 trillion and net income (earnings) of $1.9 trillion. Moreover, that study also showed that large pharmaceutical companies had median net income margins of 13.8%, significantly greater than those of other large corporations in the S&P 500 (7.7%) and similar to those of other research-driven companies."

Source: US tax dollars funded every new pharmaceutical in the last decade. (2020). Institute for New Economic Thinking. https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/us-tax-dollars-funded-every-new-pharmaceutical-in-the-last-decade

Question: How do the profits of large pharmaceutical companies compare with those of other companies from the S&P 500 Index?

Findings: In this cross-sectional study that compared the profits of 35 large pharmaceutical companies with those of 357 large, nonpharmaceutical companies from 2000 to 2018, the median net income (earnings) expressed as a fraction of revenue was significantly greater for pharmaceutical companies compared with nonpharmaceutical companies (13.8% vs 7.7%).

Meaning: Large pharmaceutical companies were more profitable than other large companies, although the difference was smaller when controlling for differences in company size, research and development expense, and time trends.

Source: Ledley, F. D., McCoy, S. S., Vaughan, G., & Cleary, E. G. (2020). Profitability of large pharmaceutical companies compared with other large public companies. JAMA, 323(9), 834. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.0442

IT IS TIME TO PUT PEOPLE OVER PROFIT!!

Help me spread the word: End Citizens United

-J