It’s much cheaper to develop cancer drugs than pharmaceutical companies claim, say the authors of a new analysis.
According to the analysis of R&D costs associated with ten new cancer medicines and subsequent revenue earned, the return on investment is of a magnitude not seen in other industries.
The US study found the median R&D cost for a publicly traded company bringing its first cancer drug to market was about $648 million – significantly less than the often-quoted, industry-funded estimate of $2.7 billion.
Five drugs originated within the same company while five were acquired at some stage during development; five acted on a novel target while five were next-in-class to previously approved drugs. All but one drug had FDA orphan drug designation.
The analysis of publically available data found the median revenue from a drug was $1,658.4 million.
For four drugs, ponatinib, enzalutamide, ibrutinib and eculizumab, revenue was more than 10-fold higher than R&D spending.