I understand the drug companies ("pharmaceutical industry" in the link below) pay about 60% of the research costs. It's a lot of it, but it's not orders-of-magn

I understand the drug companies ("pharmaceutical industry" in the link below) pay about 60% of the research costs. It's a lot of it, but it's not orders-of-magnitude bigger than the public contribution. https://www.thebalance.com/who-funds-biomedical-research-2663193 https://www.thebalance.com/who-funds-biomedical-research-266... Some would suggest that the drug companies actually take on the lower risk research, leaving the high risk work to be funded by other sources: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1027-mazzucato-big-pharma-prices-20151027-story.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1027-mazzucato-bi... There are more questions opened by these pieces, sure, but it's clear that we would still have research and still have cures without the businesses stumping up for research. otherwise we will just get fewer new drugs. I thought I had a link here somewhere, but can't find it; I have a strong suspicion that the companies have a preference to repackage or reformulate existing drugs, and that basic research on new drugs is disproportionately covered by the public purse and charity.