7. Drug companies care more about U.S. citizens healthcare than profit and their own bottom line.

• If large pharmaceutical companies were to shift the balance of what they spend (currently two-thirds for marketing and administration vs. one-third on research and development), it might help ameliorate the situation. (September 7, 2005 - Forbes.com)


• According to a report by the nonprofit group Families USA, the former chairman and CEO of Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Charles A. Heimbold Jr., made $74,890,918 in 2001, not counting his $76,095,611 worth of unexercised stock options. The chairman of Wyeth made $40,521,011, exclusive of his $40,629,459 in stock options. (August 29, 2004 – STLtoday.com)


• The drug industry boasts the second-best margin in business, after the oil-drilling sector and that's after subtracting R&D costs. (September 2, 2004 – Los Angeles Times)


• In 2003, Merck & Co. recorded revenue of $22.5 billion. Of this, it spent $3.2 billion on R & D. A lot less than its “marketing and administrative” costs ($6.4 billion). After other charges and taxes, the company still recorded profit of $6.8 billion, for a margin of 30%. (September 2, 2004 – Los Angeles Times)


• Government officials typically find it difficult to extract price concessions from drug companies. Supplying medication to government health programs is big business, and the drug companies have used their influence in Washington and in state capitals across the country to maintain lucrative deals. (July 5, 2005 - Sun-Sentinel.com)


• A report issued today reveals the drug industry wants patients to pay more for their drugs, and for services such as elective surgery to be cut. (August 30, 2005 - Scoop Independent News)


• And in another development today, the pharmaceutical industry lobby group the RMI is calling for a tripling of the pharmaceutical budget, an increase of more than $1 billion per year. (August 30, 2005 - Scoop Independent News)
• The importation fight has been launched because, it seems, U.S. drug companies make too much money. (August 29, 2005 - Bloomberg.com)


• State and federal authorities are pursuing 150 pricing fraud cases involving nearly 500 drugs in what has been described as a "record-breaking year" for drug fraud cases. Authorities allege that some of the world's biggest drug companies inflated prices to cheat state and federal health-care programs out of millions of dollars. (June 10, 2005 - The News Tribune)


• Pharmaceutical companies are not charitable institutions. They are in business to make money, profits! (June 16, 2005 - National Review Online)


• According to recent reports from top pharmaceutical companies, CEO compensation packages range from $23.9 million to $150.9 million for one year. (Independent Media TV October 4, 2004)


• The Pharmaceutical industry has consistently been the most profitable industry over the past eight years, with profits four to five times higher that of the average Fortune 500 firm. (Fortune 500 rankings August 5, 2004)


• A recent report out of the inspector general s office in the federal Health and Human Services Department found that drug companies repeatedly overcharged public hospitals and clinics. In a single month, it said, the overcharges amounted to $41.1 million. ( The Journal News July 12, 2004)


• According to recent reports from top pharmaceutical companies, CEO compensation packages range from $23.9 million to $150.9 million for one year. (Independent Media TV October 4, 2004)


• The Pharmaceutical industry has consistently been the most profitable industry over the past eight years, with profits four to five times higher that of the average Fortune 500 firm. (Fortune 500 rankings August 5, 2004)


• A recent report out of the inspector general's office in the federal Health and Human Services Department found that drug companies repeatedly overcharged public hospitals and clinics. In a single month, it said, the overcharges amounted to $41.1 million. ( The Journal News July 12, 2004)


• An Alabama charity hospital has sued Eli Lilly and Co., Pfizer Inc. and other drug companies, accusing them of overcharging indigent health-care providers by $500 million for outpatient prescription drugs.


• Profits: Fortune magazine reports a median net profit margin for its Fortune 500 companies of 4.6 percent. It pegs pharmaceutical manufacturers at 14.3%. By comparison, retail and chain pharmacies have a net profit of 1.1%.(The Charleston Gazette July 15, 2004)


• Pfizer, the world's biggest drug maker, opened its largest ingredients manufacturing plant in Singapore and immediately announced plans to expand the $350 million facility, mainly because of tax incentives. (Business Report – July 16, 2004)


• According to an article in Fortune, in 2002 pharmaceutical manufacturers' return on revenues was 17% compared to 3% for Fortune 500 firms. (Journal Record Oklahoma City July 16, 2004)


• Cholesterol-lowering drugs bring in $20 billion a year in sales, the single biggest market in the $492 billion global prescription-drug business. Pfizer's Lipitor is the biggest selling cholesterol drug. (Business Week July 26, 2004)


• The pharmaceutical industry has been far and away the most profitable of all businesses in the United States. In 2002, the drug company Pfizer reported profits of more than 28% on revenue, which is nearly three times that of General Electric and nine times that of Wal-Mart. (Savvy Senior August 7, 2004)


• Drug companies will pocket 61% of the new Medicare Prescription Drug spending as profits. As a result of Bush's Medicare bill, the drug industry will receive an additional $139.2 billion in profits over the next eight years. That will amount to 61% of the spending bill for prescription drugs. (Democratic National Committee August 13, 2004)


• In 2002, the combined profits of the 10 drug companies in the Fortune 500 list ($35.9 billion) were greater than the combined profits of the other 490 firms ($33.7 billion). (The Charleston Gazette August 16, 2004)


• Major pharmaceutical companies in the US will see a $600 billion decline in profits in the next decade if the US market is opened to cheaper imported drugs. (Globe and Mail November 17, 2003)


• Drug makers raised prescription prices by nearly triple the rate of inflation in the first three months of this year - before Medicare began its pharmacy discount drug card program, negating much of the savings the government promised to seniors, according to an AARP survey released at the end of June.  (Associated Press - July 1, 2004)


• Thanks to the federal ban on imports, drug companies are able to recover the high costs of research and advertising and marketing by dumping those expenses onto Americans, many of them retirees with limited incomes. (Wilmington Star – August 10, 2004)


• Drug makers raised prescription prices by nearly triple the rate of inflation in the first three months of this year - before Medicare began its pharmacy discount drug card program, negating much of the savings the government promised to seniors, according to an AARP survey released at the end of June.  (Associated Press - July 1, 2004)

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