For example, Professor Patricia Danzon of the University of Pennsylvania has written several articles criticizing some of the international pricing data that Dr. Angell cites. In addition, the editorial criticizes the industry for excess spending on promotion. This is a topic about which I have written several articles, including one in the New England Journal. I always find criticisms of spending on promotion and comparisons with research spending puzzling. In an important sense, both research spending and spending on promotion are informational spending.
Research obtains information about the properties of a chemical.
Which of these is larger for a given company in a given year is an issue of little interest from the perspective of efficient resource allocation. In a market economy promotion and advertising are the way in which sellers inform potential buyers about their wares, and Dr. Angell does not explain why this industry should be treated differently than any other, nor does she suggest any other way of providing information about drugs. First, these minor variants often have reduced side effects or more convenient dosing properties, so that patients are more likely to utilize the drugs. But second, in an article largely concerned with drug pricing, it should be noted that the major price competition for patented drugs is in fact from exactly the me-too drugs that Dr. Angell criticizes. There is no reason for treating the pharmaceutical industry differently from any other industry.