3 ms·
Disagree that having a broad incentive is good enough for this case. This is an example of how hard it is to create an effective broad incentive. Since drugs
by anatari 16y ago
Disagree that having a broad incentive is good enough for this case. This is an example of how hard it is to create an effective broad incentive. Since drugs can be created under the shelter of limited liability of corporations, people will just find a way around it. Shell corporations would be much more likely to risk other human lives than the FDA would. In addition to that, if the expected value of a risky drug is still positive, then many corporations may still rationally opt to proceed with the drug.
- hugh3 16y agoAgreed. Bring in that sort of incentive-based deregulation and suddenly every new drug would be made and manufactured by an entirely new company (which just happens to be 100% owned by an existing big pharma company). Incentives aren't the solution to everything, sometimes regulation works better. For instance, you're liable for all the damage you cause while on the road, and yet we still need road rules to stop people from behaving like dicks (and even then, it barely works).
- jacoblyles 16y agoIf a smaller company is 100% owned by a larger company then people suing the smaller company would have access to the large company's assets (there is some sort of equity cut-off here, in banking I believe it's as low as 9.9%). Corporate law thought of this.
- hugh3 16y agoOK, so you set up a wholly independent company owned by a few employees. This company licenses the patent for NewDrug from BigCompany. Heck, you don't even have to do it with shelf companies. Hi there, I'm BigCompany, and I'm willing to license this drug which I think might work to any startup that feels like selling it! Or if that would expose me to liabiilty, I'm willing to license this substance which I developed which may or may not be useful as a drug. That would still be a win-win situation.
- WalterBright 16y agoAs a consumer, why would you inject yourself with an untested drug from some unknown startup?