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a trio of economists from the United States wrote about a number. Soon after, that number began popping up all over the place-in newspapers and political speeches, on television and the Internet. But the figure, despite reaching nearcanonical status, drew criticism. Some said it was inflated. Less diplomatic detractors said it was a 9-digit fairy tale. That number was 802 000 000. It was, according to the 2003 study, the number of US dollars that pharmaceutical companies spent, on average, to bring a new drug to market (J Health Econ 2003;22[2]:151-85). Now there are new numbers. Some health economists peg the current cost of drug development at US$1.3 billion, others at US$1.7 billion. These figures have also been ques-Drug development cost estimates hard to swallow News

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