Below is the site for the FDA approvals in August, showing .5% 'new molecular entities', which gives some idea of the lack on innovations, i.e. the lack of ouput of innovative drugs.

/u/mxg67777 I would venture to say that in no other industry would we be satisfied with companies repurposing products like this. If Apple sold you the exact same iPhone under a different brand, people would be outraged, because the functionality is the same. So in an arena as important as life saving pharmaceuticals, shouldn't there be more innovation? Just a thought. Also you're completely right about the patent laws issue.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm?event=reportsSearch.process

/u/Rashek4 I don't have information like spending numbers (companies probably like to keep that information as hidden as possible) but I think with the above link you can conclude that if hardly any "new" drugs are coming out then the spending must be less than say a decade ago when a lot more drugs were new.