Blockbuster Drugs: Good Or Bad? (Part 2)

Blockbusters may be good for business, but bad for your health... Part 2. Like any real addiction, initial euphoria is followed by dependency. "The way the industry is structured right now, from an economic standpoint they are depending on blockbuster drugs for most of their income," said Ken Kaitlin, professor of pharmacology at Tufts University and director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. And these dependency rates are very high - one might say dangerously high. Top of the list is Amgen (AMGN), whose revenues depend 99.9% on its blockbuster drugs. But Pfizer's (PFE) rate is close to 80%, Merck (MRK) is at 65%, and even Johnson and Johnson, (JNJ) known as a diversified health care company, is over 50% dependent on blockbuster sales.