Drug companies love new drugs—that’s where their profits come from. But when it comes to getting value for money and even extending life, the drugs often fall short.
Researchers from the London School of Economics have been looking at the benefits of new drugs approved for use in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) over the last 20 years, costing around £75 billion ($94.5 billion).
New drugs are more expensive and achieved 3.75 million more years of good health, the researchers reckon. But if the NHS had stuck with the older and cheaper drugs, it would have achieved around 5 million more years of healthy life.