Can "Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development " be prosecuted for Genocide?

 Can "Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development " be prosecuted for Genocide?

The $2.6 Billion Pill — Methodologic and Policy Considerations

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1500848

"At a press conference in Boston last November, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development announced it had calculated that it costs pharmaceutical companies $2.6 billion to develop a new drug1— up from the $802 million the Center estimated in 2003. Because the new findings were presented at a media event that offered limited information regarding the methods used to arrive at this figure, it is difficult to know much about the solidity of the approach or the validity of the reported number. Before the findings could appear in the peer-reviewed literature, the figure was catapulted into the midst of the current hot debate about the pricing of many new drugs.2"

"The methods used to generate the $2.6 billion figure will require careful scrutiny once they are available for detailed review. The analysis was based on data that 10 unnamed drug makers provided on 106 unnamed investigational compounds that they had “self-originated.” The raw numbers on which the analysis is based are not available for transparent review — and are likely never to be divulged. "

"However, nearly half the total cost of developing a new drug ($1.2 billion) was ascribed to this cost of capital, with only $1.4 billion attributed to funds actually spent on research. These capital costs were assessed at 10.6% per year, compounded — despite the fact that bonds issued by drug companies often pay only 1 to 5%"

U.S. firms with the highest amounts of profits held overseas. Two pharmaceutical companies are ranked third and fourth among all U.S. corporations in this regard: Pfizer ($69 billion) and Merck ($57 billion), respectively. 

the current budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in inflation-adjusted dollars, is at its lowest level in 15 years.5

This finding is supported by extensive data showing that most regulatory bodies are impressively prompt in making approval decisions once the results of drug trials have been submitted by a manufacturer

But as risky as drug development is, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries remain among the most profitable sectors of the U.S. economy and actually spend only a small fraction of their revenues on truly innovative research

"Furthermore, some of the most important recent new medications were not developed by large drug manufacturers but were acquired through purchase of the biotech firms that discovered them. These, in turn, are often spinoffs based on the discoveries of NIH-funded university research laboratories. For example, Gilead Sciences did not invent its blockbuster treatment for hepatitis C, sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), which it priced at $1,000 per pill. Rather, it acquired the product from a small company founded by the drug's inventor, a faculty member at Emory University, much of whose work on the usefulness of nucleoside viral inhibitors was federally funded. Gilead paid $11 billion in late 2011 for the rights to market Sovaldi, an amount it totally recouped in its first year of sales after approval of the drug in late 2013."

Maybe this is true of most of US innovation.

 Students who got subsidized education in developing  countries come to USA  for  higher studies.Most of them stay back doing one postdoctoral contract after another till they can get a green card.

Some of them start  small companies  based on their long years  of research and are eventually taken over by the Big FISH.

So in essence  a number of poor developing  countries  contribute scarce resources to  the  number one economy in the world!

the proliferation of “specialty” drugs that can cost patients and payers as much as $300,000 per year.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (Tufts CSDD) at Tufts University School of Medicine is an independent, academic, non-profit research center. Tufts CSDD receives unrestricted grants from pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, as well as companies that provide related services to the research-based industry (e.g., contract research, consulting, and technology firms). These grants represent approximately 25% of Tufts CSDD’s operating expenses. The remainder comes from government and foundation support, grants for commissioned projects, registration fees for courses and conferences, and subscription fees for Tufts CSDD publications.