Think tank: Industry plays key role in drug dev.

A conservative think tank is riding to the rescue of the drug development industry, insisting that a new study disproves the old argument that drug companies are simply gathering huge windfalls on new drugs without offering any really innovative input into the development process. After examining the fate of 32 drugs, the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy concludes that without the private sector's work the drug research projects funded by the government would have languished, unable to get to the market.

"All or almost all the drugs discussed...would not have been developed or, at best, would have been delayed significantly in the absence of private sector scientific discoveries," says the report.

- read the report from the San Diego Union-Tribune