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There's a difference between ensuring companies creating beneficial products are financially rewarded and asking the customers to pay the full cost. The governm
by pradn 7y ago
There's a difference between ensuring companies creating beneficial products are financially rewarded and asking the customers to pay the full cost. The government can step in to pay for serious illnesses so we don't let people die from newly cured diseases. This already happens with Medicare/Medicaid, and it is tough to ask state governments to spend millions to cure a handful of people, but the alternative is capping drug margins or reducing the financial reward for developing drugs.
Also recall that in the current system not everyone who contributes to a new drug is rewarded. The basic research that scientists conduct using public money is not financially rewarded when its used by new drugs. Why do only people at the end of the pipeline get to profit?
- refurb 7y agoWhat? If the people who do the basic research patent their work, sure they get financially rewarded for it. Go talk to the chemist at Northwestern who discovered Lyrica. Or the CF Foundation who made billions from Kalydeco.
- LASR 7y agoNot if the funding to do the research is from public money.
- dekhn 7y agoIt really depends on a lot of factors. Not every scientist who has their name on a patent that led to a billion dollar drug saw much money from it. the university sees much of the upside.
- refurb 7y agoThat’s true, it all depends on the agreement with the university.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]