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Re:Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectiou... by refurb on Thursday December 26, 2019 @06:51PM (#21887884)
Just measuring profit ignores all the companies who went under because their drug didn’t work. You’re just counting the winners.

And marketing includes things like paying a sales rep to answer doctors questions. Are you saying they shouldn’t do that.

Re:Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectiou... by Symmetry on Thursday December 26, 2019 @08:53PM (#21888486)
I was under the impression that the biggest driver of marketing costs for drugs was providing free samples of the drug to doctors, with training doctors coming second and advertisements a distant third.
Re:Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectiou... by refurb on Thursday December 26, 2019 @10:44PM (#21888993)
Depends on the drug and the market. Not all drug have a free sample program, but yes, it can add up since they account for the full price, not cost of goods.

Personnel can be a big chunk as well, since the fully loaded cost of a sales rep can be $400k per year and for primary care drugs, it’s not unusual to have 1,000 reps.