It turns out there is a whole sub-field of interaction between medicine and finance devoted to the economics of drug discovery. You can google it, but here's o

It turns out there is a whole sub-field of interaction between medicine and finance devoted to the economics of drug discovery. You can google it, but here's one example: http://www.nature.com/clpt/journal/v87/n3/pdf/clpt2009298a.pdf?type=access_denied http://www.nature.com/clpt/journal/v87/n3/pdf/clpt2009298a.p... I attended a talk by an economist (whose name I don't recall, alas) who discussed establishing a futures market for drugs, with portfolios which would smooth out variabilities in what works and does not. It's pretty much the same as what you described.