Sadly most of that money is spent on marketing [1] and most new drugs are just minor tweaks to existing compounds [2], much safer bets than brand new approaches.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/11/big-p...

[2] http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2015/07/06/serious-risks-and-f...

Hyperbole seems to be getting worse on HN.

First off, no, marketing is not where most of the money is spent. Second, marketing spend has a positive ROI, so they get more money back than they spent.

Lastly, this entire discussion is about a wonder drug that cures a terrible disease and you claim most new drugs are minor tweaks.

Although those two points are interesting and relevant, my statement doesn't conflict with them.

Or are you claiming that Europe isn't meaningfully free-riding simply because new drug development just isn't valuable, and we'd be better off with much less drug research? I think that's a defensible claim, but it's very contentious and should be stated clearly if you believe it.