Lots of the replies have covered the whys: * Because this is in the context of a for profit company arguing that they should get a slice of the Science funding

Lots of the replies have covered the whys: * Because this is in the context of a for profit company arguing that they should get a slice of the Science funding pie so that pharmaceutical companies have an easier time at reproducing results. It's unclear that this is a better use of funding than investing in new discoveries (unless you are profoundly suspicious of scientists and think they are all fabricating results), but it's fairly obvious why this aligns with the profit motives of pharmaceutical companies. I hope it's obvious why that's troubling to me and others. * Because there is value in reproducing results without doing everything exactly identically (see other posts). * Because there are other mechanisms for obtaining high-quality descriptions of protocols and it doesn't necessarily always make sense to invest lots of time in this early in the scientific process. * Because public morality panics rarely result in good policy making.