1990 Annual Report

The industry's investment in research
and development-its most distinguishing characteristic-continued to increase at a rapid rate
during the decade as it rose from $2 billion to $7.3
billion. Pharmaceutical companies invested a total
of $42 billion in discovering and developing new
drugs during the 1980s-double the cost of the
Apollo manned-moon-landing program!
Among the many important new drugs
that were launched during the decade, pharmaceutical companies introduced 21 new drugs for
cardiovascular disease, including the new calcium
channel blockers and ACE inhibitors; 45 new drugs
to treat infections, including AZT and ganciclovir
for AIDS patients; 10 new drugs to treat mental
disease, including new therapies for obsessivecompulsive disorder and schizophrenia; six new
drugs for tropical diseases such as malaria and
leprosy; and four new agents for the treatment
of ulcers that have virtually eliminated the need
for ulcer surgery.
Many therapeutic advances also came
from the development of new indications for older
drugs: a recent FDA study found that 10 of the
drugs it considered "vitally important therapies"
of the past decade were new indications for existing products. In addition, the new immunosuppressant cyclosporin enabled continued progress
to be made in organ transplants. And there was
a resurgence in the development of biological products, with the FDA highlighting the approval of
14 "important" new biologicals in 1989, including
a new treatment for anemia that sharply reduces
the need for transfusions.

R&D EXPENDITURES BY
NIH AND PMA MEMBERS
$ Billions
6.8.3
66
4.8
4.1 5
3.4 4
3 2.8
3
3s6-2
1979 1982 1985 1989'
L NIH l PMA Source: National Institutes of Health and PMA Annual Survey
*Estimated
R&D EXPENDITURES BY PMA MEMBERS
AS A PERCENTAGE OF SALES & EXPORTS
18
16.8
16.3
14.4 14.8 16
13.8
11.7
12
10
1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990*
Source: PMA Annual Survey *U.S. Exports 1990: $3.2 billion (estimated)
COST OF DEVELOPING A NEW MEDICINE

$ Millions
2314 250

72

1976 1982 1987
Source: 1Ronald Hansen, University of Rochester;
2Ronald Hansen, (adjusted by PMA for inflation);
3Stephen N. Wiggins, Texas A&M University;
4Joseph DiMasi, Tufts University.
Estimated

1990*