How much does it cost to make one drug?

We have reviewed the main studies since 2000 on the cost of drug development, all of which concern US drugs.1 These studies present widely divergent estimates, ranging from less than 100 million dollar2 to over 2 billion dollar.3 These figures vary because of the assumptions that are made after reviewing the most decisive assumptions, suggest which assumptions are most appropriate, it seems likely that the average cost of drug development is around $1 billions.

  1. See this spreadsheet for further information and analysis. [return]
  2. Light and Warburton, “Demythologizing the High Costs of Pharmaceutical Research”, p. 12. [return]
  3. Dimasi, Grabowski, and Hansen, “Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry”, p. 26. [return]