Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I do not know how true it is but we have all read that most global pharmaceutical companies will spend more on advertising than on research and development. If that is the case, it undermines much of the discourse on the subject.

These debates get very heated because we are talking about seriously ill people and, in some instances, seriously ill children. The retort from the pharmaceutical companies is that they must make back what they spend on research and development. If it is true, and I suspect it is, that they spend more on advertising than on research and development, then their claim is undermined. I do not know if the witnesses are aware of whether that is true but it is something I have heard.