Why drugs are expensive: It’s the science, stupid.

Often you will hear people talking about why drugs are expensive: it’s the greedy pharmaceutical companies, the patent system, the government, capitalism itself. All these factors contribute to increasing the price of a drug, but one very important factor often gets entirely overlooked: Drugs are expensive because the science of drug discovery is hard. And it’s just getting harder. In fact purely on a scientific level, taking a drug all the way from initial discovery to market is considered harder than putting a man on the moon, and there’s more than a shred of truth to this contention.

Scientific American - Why drugs are expensive: It’s the science, stupid.

Scientific American - Why drug discovery is hard – Part 2: Easter Island, Pit Vipers; Where do drugs come from?