Zyprexa

Dr.

Garber points to Erbitux, a new colorectal cancer drug, which came to market priced at about $38,000 for a four-month treatment, or $114,000 annually, when in early clinical trials it extended the average patient survival by only a few weeks or months.

In contrast, Gleevec, a drug for a different cancer, has been shown to extend patients' lives for years, and is priced at $37,000 annually at the recommended dose.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which co-markets Erbitux, declined to comment.

Drug-industry executives are wary.

Mr.

Taurel, Lilly's chief executive, says he hasn't had a bad experience with NICE, but he fears "in the hands of people who control the drug budget, it could be used to deny access to innovation." Reduce cost of developing drugs The FDA has been holding meetings with scientists from universities and drug companies to lay the groundwork for making clinical trials shorter, cheaper and more effective.

Fred Hassan, chief executive of Schering-Plough Corp., says "improving the science of drug development and drug regulatory review" is vital.

"In many industries, the cost of production goes down every year," he notes, but in drug development it keeps getting more expensive.

Despite enormous advances in understanding biology, it takes roughly the same amount of time today as it did 20 years ago to br...

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