AIDS drug development wins economics award

Written byKerry Grens

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Two economists from the University of Chicago won the linkurl:Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Medical and Health Research Award;http://www.researchamerica.org/outreach/garfieldaward.html this month, given out by the advocacy group Research!America. linkurl:Tomas Philipson;http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/faculty/web-pages/tomas-philipson.asp and linkurl:Anupam Jena;http://www.rand.org/economics/jena.html looked at how much consumers save and companies profit from the development of life-extending AIDS drugs. Each year, Garfield, who founded __The Scientist__ 21 years ago, gives $5,000 to people who have taken a close look at the impact medical research has on the economy. It's a tough question to answer, as I found out while reporting an linkurl:article;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53302/ on the subject in __The Scientist__ this summer. The estimates of research?s impact on the economy vary widely, but one thing seems to be consistent: its impact appears positive. As Philipson and Jena found, for example, society gained $1.4 trillion from people?s lives being extended by AIDS drugs. The problem the authors find, however, is that companies are taking in just 5% of this "social surplus," raising concerns about the incentives companies have for innovation. You can read their study in the linkurl:Forum for Health Economics and Policy.;http://www.bepress.com/fhep/biomedical_research/3/

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Meet the Author

Kerry Grens
Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.
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