The total amount of money being invested in medical research in the U.S. has doubled in the past 10 years, reaching $95 billion. But the authors of a new study examining the trend question whether the money is being spent wisely. Drug developers are funding 57 percent of the spending and the National Institutes of Health pays for 28 percent. That accounts for 6 cents of every health care dollar, while only one-tenth of one cent goes to determining which treatments are the best at the lowest cost.
"If we're soon going to be spending $100 billion a year, we'd better have treatments that work over a long period of time against diseases that are important today and will be more important tomorrow," said Dr. Hamilton Moses, co-author of the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
- read this report from the AP for more