Pharmaceutical Industry - By the Numbers

Drug companies have made extraordinary, lifesaving medicines. All of us trust that these medications and medical devices are based in true science, not profit margins.

But it seems that every day there is news of another failure within the pharmaceutical industry that puts our lives at risk.  It is time for real oversight of drug companies to restore public trust.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that only 44 percent of Americans believe drug companies do a “good job” serving consumers. Additional statistics listed below demonstrate American's increasing concerns about the safety and reliability of the pharmaceutical industry:

Public Dissatisfaction

50%	Number of Americans with favorable opinion of the pharmaceutical industry
18%	Percentage of Americans who felt they could trust drug company advertising
81%	Percentage of Americans who believe drug companies charge unjustifiably high costs
44%	Percentage of Americans who believe drug companies do a “good job” serving consumers
9%	Percentage of Americans who believed drug companies were generally honest.  Down from 14% in 2004

 

 

 

 

Industry Profits on the Backs of Americans

$556	Annual per person prescription drug costs in the United States
$385	Annual per person prescription drug costs in Canada
$93	Annual per person prescription drug costs in Mexico
30-36%	Percentage of pharmaceutical sales spent on marketing and advertising
12%	Percentage of pharmaceutical sales reinvested in Research and Development
18.5%	2001 net profit percentage for pharmaceutical companies
3.3%	2001 net profit percentage profits for Fortune 500 companies

(AAJ Fact Sheet: “Americans Do Not Trust the Pharmaceutical Industry”)