You didn't respond to his assertion. The drugs we have are warped by the abilities of people to make money off them. In fact, we can point to many "dead ends"

You didn't respond to his assertion. The drugs we have are warped by the abilities of people to make money off them. In fact, we can point to many "dead ends" where companies marketed drugs that were more expensive and worse than existing treatments. I've personally witnessed a company taking an ingestable pill and turning it into a nurse-administered injection, just so they could take advantage of reimbursement. Same drug, but the patient suffers just so they can make more money. The total budget of the DHHS is irrelevant. Only money that goes to researching unprofitable drugs would counter the assertion of the OP.