Perhaps before 1983, but there's a strong case that since the Orphan Drug Act was passed in the US, orphan drugs are overincentivized and a massive misallocatio

Perhaps before 1983, but there's a strong case that since the Orphan Drug Act was passed in the US, orphan drugs are overincentivized and a massive misallocation of resources [0]. Orphan drugs represent nearly half of FDA approved drugs in some recent years and come with huge tax benefits, near monopoly conditions, and typically the most outrageous prices. Maximizing quality-adjusted life years would be better achieved by incentivizing single-dose therapeutics for common ailments. Not the best example but the first that comes to mind is upcoming psychedelic therapy, which could have major potential, but is seen as having a broken business model because most people won't want more than one treatment. [0] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/17/509506836/drugs-for-rare-diseases-have-become-uncommonly-rich-monopolies https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/17/5095068...