Not ... sure that's the best reductio, since many governments do make broad-based equity investments, via Sovereign Wealth Funds, and it does bolster their long

Not ... sure that's the best reductio, since many governments do make broad-based equity investments, via Sovereign Wealth Funds, and it does bolster their long-term financial outlook. To bring it back to the specifics of the original argument, and refine it a bit, the relevant point is, "If these are such easy profits from doing nothing, why doesn't the government get in on it?" Alternatively, why don't the universities themselves develop drugs to the point of FDA approval and mass marketing? The unfortunate answer is: it's not actually easy profits. It's highly speculative and difficult work to turn a drug from "supported by university research" to "ready to market to the public". Sometimes universities do try to cover some of that ground though.