Dollar value is a meaningless comparison. The cost of running a tiny drug study in the US is insane and only done because of how the FDA operates. It's really bad incentives all around.

Consider, how much money drug companies spend advertising, now reolise there are basically one new drug per week or less if you exclude packing drifts A and drug B in one pill and calling it something else. Doctors can easily keep up with that rate of new drugs without a lot of effort.