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by danielweber
4820 days ago
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They spend money on marketing because it makes them money. Say you spend $1 billion to develop a drug. That $1 billion number is a sunk cost; it is irrelevant to figuring out how much to spend on advertising and marketing. Limiting marketing to less than that $1 billion that was spend on research makes no sense. |
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Perhaps; even if true, the fact is that drug companies claim they need patents (and other protections, both explicit and implied) to be able to recoup their R&D costs. If their R&D costs are swamped by their advertising costs, perhaps the problem isn't the cost of R&D, but mismanagement? I mean, honestly, it's not like they are producing luxury items. These companies are supposedly making a product that sells itself because their customers will die without it. To add to all that, arguments can (and have) been made that pharmaceutical advertising is a negative input to society by unduly influencing prescribers.