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The high cost of drug development in many ways defines the pharmaceutical industry. The oft quoted figure from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development most recently puts the number at $1.3 billion to bring a new drug to market. But a new study argues that amount is grossly inflated and suggests that the typical drug costs a fraction of the Tuft calculation. We spoke to Donald Light and Rebecca Warburton, authors of the study that appears in The London School of Economics and Political Science's journal BioSocieties. We discussed what they see as the flaws with Tufts' numbers, how they went about calculating their own set of figures, and why it's in the policy interests of the industry to find a way to keep that number as big as possible. Read More Here

A Step Closer to Regulation
FDA advisory panel calls for physician supervision of direct-to-consumer genetic tests.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has decided that direct-to-consumer genetic testing should be done under a doctor's supervision. Although the FDA is not obliged to follow its advisory panels' recommendations, it often does. Read More Here

Gates Foundation Pours $10 million into Liquidia
Charitable support funds next-generation vaccine technology.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is making a $10 million equity investment in Liquidia Technologies to support the development of cost-effective and potent vaccines to prevent malaria and other diseases as part of the charitable group's commitment to making this the "Decade of Vaccines." Read More Here

Lupus Drug Wins FDA Approval
Human Genome and Glaxo could capture up to $1B in annual sales.
Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline have won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Benlysta, the first new lupus medicine approved by the agency in 56 years. The monoclonal antibody is projected by analysts to generate more than $1 billion in annual sales at its peak, a reward Human Genome and GSK will split equally. Read More Here

AstraZeneca Enters into $68.5 Million Multi-State Pharmaceutical Settlement
The weekly round-up of failed trials, missed targets, and other business mishaps.
AstraZeneca has entered into a $68.5 million multi-state settlement to resolve allegations that the pharmaceutical company deceptively marketed its anti-psychotic drug Seroquel. Some 36 states and the District of Columbia are party to the settlement, described as the largest-ever multi-state, consumer-protection-based pharmaceutical settlement. Read More Here

Obscuring Financial Ties
Studies of studies can hide conflicts-of-interest with drugmakers.
Financial conflicts of interest are increasingly being obscured in drug research as the use of large meta-analyses—so called "studies of studies"—are being used to drive policy and prescription decisions, an international team of investigators warn. Read More Here

Relatively Worse
Americans have higher rates of most chronic diseases than the English
Despite spending more than $8,000 per person on healthcare in the United States, Americans experience higher rates of chronic disease than their English counterparts, according to a new analysis of two national health surveys. Read More Here

Healthy Eating for Two
A poor maternal diet during pregnancy can have lasting impact.
The impact of a poor diet during pregnancy can last a lifetime for a mother's offspring, boosting a child's risk of heart disease and cancer later in life, new research shows. Read More Here

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