Drug companies do sell or give away IP from time to time. But even in the scenario you suggest, with finite resources, why put money into antibiotics developmen

Drug companies do sell or give away IP from time to time. But even in the scenario you suggest, with finite resources, why put money into antibiotics development? Why not just fund cancer research at a higher level? I think most pharmas wouldn't want to take the risk that the governmnt would leave them holding the bag. Contrary to the popular meme, drug companies don't generally want to sit on a drug that is ready to go. But all that aside, there is nothing stopping the NIH from starting a research program and developing their own antibiotics (or any academic institution). This happens a bit already, but then it comes time to run the clinical trials and develop the research compound into an actual medicine. This requires expertise and infrastructure that does not exist in the public sector at a sufficient level to get the job done.