The return on investment in R&D for pharmaceuticals was halved in 10 years: the 10% in 2010, just enough to cover the cost of invested capital. These are the data from the Kpmg auditing firm on the 30 leading pharmaceutical companies in Europe and North America. According to Deutsche Bank, between 2007 and 2011, 7 EU pharmaceutical companies spent 161 billion dollars in R&D to produce drugs which generated a net income of 86 billion. Only Novartis generated more than it spent (37.7bn vs 28.7); GlaxoSmithKline recovered 19.6 of 28.3; Bayer 6.6 out of 10.6; AstraZeneca 7.1 out of 22.5. Deutsche Bank analysts predict that with 67 drugs currently in an advanced stage of development, by 2014 additional sales worth 30 billion will be achieved, thus partially offsetting the 27 billion that will be missing by 2015 due to the expiry of the patents.
(The Financial Times online – 16/10/2011, The Financial Times Pag.20 – 17/10/2011) 
