JAMA studies slam drug prices vs R&D costs, Merck’s Frazier pushes back

A series of JAMA studies calls out the disconnect between the cost to develop new drugs and rising drug prices, but according to Merck’s Kenneth Frazier the analyses used flawed assumptions, non-representative data sets, and downplayed an important trend indicating that companies are moving in the right direction.

The studies, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, show that while the cost of developing a new drug hasn’t risen dramatically over the past decade, drug prices have -- at a rate of about 3.5x inflation. ...