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You are here > Home > Reading Lists > Politics, Policy & Reform > The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs The $800 Million Pill: The
Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs Softcover: 303 pages
Hardcover: 297 pages
Why do life-saving prescription drugs cost so much? Drug companies insist that prices reflect the millions they invest in research and development. In this gripping exposé, Merrill Goozner contends that American taxpayers are in fact footing the bill twice: once by supporting government-funded research and again by paying astronomically high prices for prescription drugs. Goozner demonstrates that almost all the important new drugs of the past quarter-century actually originated from research at taxpayer-funded universities and at the National Institutes of Health. He reports that once the innovative work is over, the pharmaceutical industry often steps in to reap the profit. Goozner shows how drug innovation is driven by dedicated scientists intent on finding cures for diseases, not by pharmaceutical firms whose bottom line often takes precedence over the advance of medicine. A university biochemist who spent twenty years searching for a single blood protein that later became the best-selling biotech drug in the world, a government employee who discovered the causes for dozens of crippling genetic disorders, and the Department of Energy-funded research that made the Human Genome Project possible--these engrossing accounts illustrate how medical breakthroughs actually take place. The $800 Million Pill suggests ways that the government's role in testing new medicines could be expanded to eliminate the private sector waste driving up the cost of existing drugs. Pharmaceutical firms should be compelled to refocus their human and financial resources on true medical innovation, Goozner insists. This book is essential reading for everyone concerned about the politically charged topics of drug pricing, Medicare coverage, national health care, and the role of pharmaceutical companies in developing countries. Merrill Goozner is former Chief Economics Correspondent at the Chicago Tribune.Ê Winner of six Peter Lisagor Awards, Goozner is a contributing editor for The American Prospect. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, Washington Monthly, Fortune Small Business, Slate, and Salon, among other publications. "In this fascinating critical look at drug and biotech companies, Goozner pulls back the curtain on the process of new drug development and answers two important questions: "where do new drugs come from?" and "what do they cost to invent?" Using case studies that recount the discovery, development and eventual commercialization of a number of significant drugs, including Epogen and the AIDS cocktail, Goozner dismantles the pharmaceutical industry’s assertion that drug prices must be kept high in order to stimulate cutting edge research. The cost of each new discovery averages $800 million, industry officials have claimed. But Goozner argues that citizens are already paying much of that bill: taxpayer-financed medical research, he finds, has played a major role in each important medical discovery. Goozner convincingly argues that new drugs get into the hands of the sick not thanks to drug and biotech companies, but to the passion of dedicated scientists—in both the private sector and the public. A former Chief Economics Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and an award-winning journalist, Goozer writes with skill and elegance, incorporating anecdote and history in a way that enlivens his research and makes his book an engrossing read. Though the issue of drug costs has been discussed extensively in the media, Goozer’s study puts all the political chatter, news coverage and analysts’ reports into a context where they finally make sense." - Publishers Weekly Review "American expenditures on prescription drugs doubled between 1990 and 2000 and currently account for close to ten percent of total healthcare costs. Concerns about availability to seniors and the poor have led many to question these high costs, which pharmaceutical companies have always justified as necessary to spur the creation of new and better drugs. In this well-researched book, Goozner, former chief economics correspondent at the Chicago Tribune, disputes these claims. He chronicles the actual clinical process by which new drugs come into being, from basic scientific research on disease processes conducted at universities and government labs to the synthesis of new chemicals. Unlike Katharine Greider's The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers-which addresses issues of advertising, marketing, and other questionable practices-Goozner's more scholarly study reveals how the pharmaceutical companies step in to take their profits (hence driving up prices) once the original government-funded research is done." - Library Journal Review If you are interested in policy or books about health care reform, please see our up-to-date collection here: Politics, Policy & Reform. 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