Letter: Marketing is drug companies’ primary cost

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.

Sally Pipes' letter on Tuesday, stating that drug companies must recoup their cost for developing miracle drugs, was off the mark. She says foreign countries get a free ride, at our expense, because they levy price controls on drug products. Perhaps, but if you don't like those foreign profit margins then don't sell these "miracle drugs" to foreign countries and see how they react.

Are we all that sure these miracle drugs are really performing miracles? There is no public or private agency in America that compares the effectiveness of the off-patent, 30- and 40-year-old miracles with the new ones. How do we really know that a new drug is any better than an old one? Who should we ask? Should we ask the pharmaceutical representative when we are at the doctor's office? Maybe the representative already told the doctor which one is better.

The pharmaceutical industry is the second-most profitable industry in America. Anyone who reads financial statements can see their No. 1 cost isn't research and development, it's product marketing. My doctor doesn't watch TV, so please stop the drug commercials.

If pharmaceutical companies will not produce flu vaccines because they can't make a profit, then, just like military defense, the responsibility to protect U.S. citizens falls to our government.

RICHARD RYCHTARIK

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