R&D costs for cancer drugs may be lower than previously thought
The total revenue from sales of the 10 drugs during this time was $67.0 billion.
The total R&D spending was $7.2 billion, or $9.1 billion when including 7% opportunity costs.
The following table includes data broken down by drug.
| Drug and company | Approval date | Indication | Total R&D costs | Revenue since approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eculizumab (Soliris)
Alexion Pharmaceuticals |
2007 | Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria | $817.6 million | $12,987.8 million |
| Pralatrexate (Folotyn)*
Allos Therapeutics |
2009 | Relapsed/refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma | $178.2 million | $304.8 million |
| Brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris)*
Seattle Genetics |
2011 | Certain patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma | $899.2 million | $1034.3 million |
| Ruxolitinib (Jakafi)
Incyte Corporation |
2011 | Intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis | $1097.8 million | $2251.5 million |
| Enzalutamide (Xtandi)**
Medivation |
2012 | Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer | $473.3 million | $21,068.3 million |
| Vincristine liposome (Marqibo)*
Talon Therapeutics |
2012 | Ph- acute lymphoblastic leukemia | $157.3 million | $204.1 million |
| Cabozantinib (Cometriq)
Exelixis |
2012 | Metastatic medullary thyroid cancer | $1950.8 million | $341.9 million |
| Ponatinib (Iclusig)*
Ariad Pharmaceuticals |
2012 | Chronic myeloid leukemia and Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia | $480.1 million | $5457.98 million |
| Ibrutinib (Imbruvica)*
Pharmacyclics |
2013 | Previously treated mantle cell lymphoma | $328.1 million | $22,275.0 million |
| Irinotecan liposome (Onivyde)
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals |
2015 | Advanced pancreatic cancer previously treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy | $815.8 million | $1065.2 million |
*Received accelerated approval. (The other 5 drugs received regular approval.)
**Did not receive orphan designation. (Nine of the 10 drugs received orphan designation.)
“So I think what we’re showing is . . . a transparent analysis of cancer drugs and companies, looking at the cost to bring a drug to market,” Dr Mailankody said. “And our estimate of $648 million is substantially lower than the often-cited number of $2.7 billion.”
“We’re also showing that, for these 10 drugs, revenue since approval is quite a bit higher than the R&D spending, almost 7-fold higher, and some of these companies have already had revenue of 10-fold or higher, compared to the R&D expenses.”
The researchers acknowledged that this study is limited by a small data set and the fact that the findings cannot be extrapolated to other types of drugs. 
1. DiMasi JA et al. Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: new estimates of R&D costs. J Health Econ. 2016;47:20-33.
2. Young B et al. Rx R&D Myths: The Case Against the Drug Industry’s R&D “Scare Card.” Washington, DC: Public Citizen’s Congress Watch; 2001. https://www.citizen.org/sites/default/files/rdmyths.pdf.
