According to ScienceDaily, a “new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development.” Despite pharmaceutical companies’ claims that Americans pay such high prices for prescription medications because they’re really paying for research and development costs, the industry spent $33.5 billion on promotion costs in 2004. The study also “supports the position that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is marketing-driven and challenges the perception of a research-driven, life-saving, pharmaceutical industry” that values the lives of its patients, rather than their spending habits.

[VIA: 25 Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry]