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C'mon folks, this isn't complicated. Hill used Indian government data on the cost of pharmaceutical ingredients and allowed for a 50-percent profit margin - but no money for investment in research - to work out the costs of producing certain drugs. On this basis, he found that Novartis' leukaemia drug Glivec actually cost $159 for a year's treatment, against the $106,000 charged in the United States. Roche's Tarceva for lung cancer cost $236, against a U.S. price of $79,000, and Novartis' Tykerb cost $4,000 against a price of $74,000. In all these cases the U.S. cost was far above that...

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 13 (UPI) -- GlaxoSmithKline on Tuesday won U.S. regulatory approval of Tykerb for use against advanced cases of breast cancer. The approval by the Food and Drug Administration means Tykerb (lapatinib) can be used in combination with capectabine (Xeloda) for patients with advanced, metastatic breast cancer tumors that exhibit HER2 protein. The combination is indicated for women who previously have been given other cancer drugs, such as an anthracycline, a taxane and trastuzumab (Herceptin). The American Cancer Society says 8,000-10,000 women die of metastatic HER2 positive breast cancer annually. "Today's approval is a step forward in making...