The committee examined the spending data for the following drugmakers: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi.
The committee found that from 2016 to 2020, the 14 drugmakers spent $577 billion on stock buybacks and dividends, which was $56 billion more than they spent on research and development over the same period.
Assuming the 14 drugmakers maintain the same rate of spending, they will spend $1.15 trillion on stock buybacks and dividends from 2020 through 2029.
The report also found that from 2016 to 2020, the drugmakers’ compensation for their top executives totaled $3.2 billion, growing by 14 percent over that five-year period.
“Many drug companies spent a significant portion of their R&D budget on finding ways to suppress generic and biosimilar competition while continuing to raise prices, rather than on innovative research,” the committee said in a news release.
