The leading 14 Big Pharma firms paid out more to enrich their investors than they spent on research and development from 2016 to 2020, a report published Thursday by the U.S. House Oversight Committee revealed, renewing calls from healthcare reform advocates for urgent action to reduce the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States.
The report—the sixth in a series on prescription drug prices—notes that the 14 companies spent nearly 10% more on stock buybacks and dividends than they did on developing and testing new medications.
Meanwhile, according to the report, the 14 firms “spent over $3.2 billion in aggregate executive compensation for their highest paid executives in the past five years,” an increase of 14% during the four-year period analyzed by congressional researchers.
— source commondreams.org | Brett Wilkins | Jul 8, 2021