Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Incorrect. You linked to the overall R&D spending data, not medical R&D spending.

You can find the health R&D expenditure data here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/health_glance-2017-72-en...

It shows the U.S. spending 2.4x that of Europe on pharma expenditure as a % of GDP, and 3.2x that of Europe on government R&D health budgets as a % of GDP.

Edit: somewhat newer data is here https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/fc8b43f4-en/index.html?i...

It shows that the R&D pharma spending gap has actually increased even further to 3.5x.




60 Billion a year (if I've read you charts correctly) is a drop in the bucket of US annual medical spending (4 Trillion/year.)

You could pick the next most expensive country's plan, triple US R&D expenditures, and still spend way less. The GP's point about it not being outsized is correct.


You're attempting to introduce a tangential point to cloud the issue, a typical Red Herring fallacy. Bowyakka was 100% incorrect. It is indisputable that U.S. medical R&D spending makes European spending appear insignificant.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: