Cancer Drug Revlimid Saves Lives — but Costs a Fortune. I Wanted to Know Why.

Cancer drug Revlimid is one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of over $100 billion. It’s also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each pill, even though that pill costs just 25 cents to make. After ProPublica’s David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, he set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid costs the same as a new iPhone. He’s covered high drug prices for years, but what he discovered shocked even him. To read our investigation, go to https://propub.li/4daDsXD. Ceramics by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica; video by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica, Gerardo del Valle/ProPublica and Katie Campbell/ProPublica; paintings by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublica; social video by Jose Sepulveda. - ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. Donate to support our work: https://propub.li/3WE9AMv Sign up for our weekly newsletter: http://propub.li/2oyN8DY Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/propublica.org Follow us on X/Twitter:   / propublica   Follow us on Instagram:   / propublica   Follow us on TikTok:   / propublica   Follow us on Facebook:   / propublica   Follow us on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@propublica Follow us on Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@ProPublica Follow us on LinkedIn:   / propublica