“They keep sending millions to Democrats campaigns.”
And the Dems betrayed them. This fight is important, as the slippery slope leads to a Canadian system. Investigate for yourself how much drug development occurs in Canada. People can criticize Pharma, but they have invented many important therapeutics over the past 75 years, and quality of life for those with severe illness has been greatly improved. Socialize Pharma (which is anti-conservative at its heart) and we become Europe and Canada, replete with anemic R&D.
Without a doubt.
“they have invented many important therapeutics over the past 75 years”
Drug development is hitting the point of diminishing returns to society.
Only a small fraction of 1% of Americans would ever need most potential new breakthrough drugs.
This small fraction may benefit greatly, but should American families on average pay say $500/year, $5,000/decade for drugs that are highly unlikely to benefit a member of their family?
In many cases drug developing is like molecular locksmithing. This is not like drug development when I was young, which was a blind hit or miss business.
Nowadays, drug developers generally know their target exactly. The risk is that their molecule might inadvertently screw up another biological pathway.
Society does need better cancer drugs and Biden is the poster president for the need for dementia drugs. These are going to require costly R&D. These large volume drugs will yield billions in profits even if sold at reasonable pricing.