I know R & D and testing are expensive and lengthy. One of my best friends is a microbiologist for a genetic engineering and pharmaceutical firm. He makes a huge salary. His company is currently owned by some European conglomerate and they're allowed to cultivate possible new technologies.

Every time I get together with him, the conversation invariably gets to what new and profitable products they've developed. The answers always surprise me. Almost nothing they ever do makes it to market. There are a huge number of dead ends. For every new theory and new lead, maybe 1 in 100 leads to anything that can actually be marketed.

He's been in this business since college and his group, a brilliant bunch, have almost nothing to show as far as commercial success. Yet they inhabit a state of the art facility, have the most modern equipment, and employ scores of scientists and technicians.

Should they actually come up with product, the time to market can be over a decade. Testing is done on animals often and then trials must be done on actual humans. Side effects often won't show up immediately so the FDA is in no hurry to OK new products.

So, although I fully agree with you that the fat cats in the corporate offices are greatly overpaid and we're deluged with stupid ads about Viagra and Cialis, you really can't make a blanket statement that R & D is cheap. It's not.

Art