The development of new drugs requires years of painstaking, risky, and expensive research that, for a new pharmaceutical compound, takes an average of 11.5 to 14 years of research, development, and clinical trials at a cost of $1.7 to $3.2 billion. Many nations either limit or are considering limiting drug prices as a way to shrink the growth of health care costs, even though drug prices in nations that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grew more slowly than total health care costs from 2005 to 2013. This is a mistake, because price controls come at the cost of a slower pace of drug discovery, as expert studies show that the relationship between drug company revenues and research and development is almost one to one.
