Charts & Graphs

Cost Breakdown

Pharmaceutical industry facts and figures.


Pie chart showing combined 2008 expenses of Novartis, Pfizer, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck (in billions). 7% for general and accounting (including legal and lobbying). 18% for research and development. 31% for marketing and sales. 36% for materials and production. 8% for other.
Combined 2008 expenses of Novartis, Pfizer, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck: $184.97 billion

Lobbying

  • Amount spent by pharmaceutical lobby in 2008: $233,707,158
  • Amount spent by tobacco lobby in 2008: $27,967,200
  • Pharmaceutical industry’s rank in money spent on lobbying: 1

Lawsuits

  • Cost of biggest pharmaceutical settlement in history (as of 2008), paid by Merck to victims of heart attacks and strokes resulting from use of Vioxx: $4.85 billion
  • Total revenue of Vioxx: more than $11 billion

Markups

  • Average price of 30-day brand-name antibiotic prescription: $144.27
  • Average price of 30-day generic antibiotic prescription: $36.40

Revenues

  • Amount Americans spent on prescription drugs in the U.S. in 1990: $40.3 billion
  • Amount Americans spent on prescription drugs in the U.S. in 2006: $216.7 billion
  • Combined budgets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Education, Labor, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Justice in 2006: $220.2 billion
  • Total pharmaceutical expenditure per capita in the U.S. in 2007: $878
  • Total pharmaceutical expenditure per capita in Sweden in 2007: $446
  • Total pharmaceutical expenditure per capita in Mexico in 2007: $198