Pharma Blog Watch

GAO Report on R&D Spending (DrugWonks)
In his entry, Peter Pitts discusses a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showing that "annual research and development spending by the pharmaceutical industry increased 147 percent, to $60 billion, between 1993 and 2004. At the same time, the number of new drug applications to the Food and Drug Administration grew by only 38 percent and about two-thirds of the new applications were for drugs that represent modifications to existing medicines, while 32 percent were for potentially innovative new drugs."

"This is yet another example of the GAO 'reporting' something that is widely known, widely reported, and widely debated," he writes. "But it's worth repeating because it focuses the spotlight on the crucial need for better drug development tools — precisely the remit of the FDA's Critical Path program."