Setting the record straight: The office of technology assessment report—pharmaceutical R&D costs, risks, and rewards

The U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) report on pharmaceutical research and development (R&D)—costs, risks, rewards—has generated a range of often heated responses, both for and against the industry. The purpose of this commentary is to clarify two points of confusion that repeatedly appear about the report: First, it is not a new and definitive study of the cost of pharmaceutical R&D (although certain related studies were commissioned by OTA). Second, the report is not unexpected, given the political‐economic context in which drug prices have historically been discussed.