Financing out of taxes is a guarantee it will be a lot more expensive. Suddenly a company has all the motivation to build a multi-billion drug that tends to 10 patients, as long as the state picks up the bill.

Hello? We're talking about a drug that already exists. I'm fine with the manufacture-only part of it being done by a publicly owned entity.

Parent is speaking of a different drug than the article, and it sounds like they are speaking of a new drug.

tbh I think parent is trying to change the subject away from the topic of the article.

Perhaps so. It’s difficult to discuss anything adjacent to healthcare when it intersects with our lives in such a personal way. It’s really challenging to bridge the knowledge and experience gap as well. Insiders are the first to declare the system we have now as flawed, but it’s a very complicated machine to change. We are trying!

edit, to speak to the complexity. Up until yesterday, if you asked me if the industry should cease direct to consumer marketing, I’d say “hell yes, I’ll push the big red button myself”. Yesterday however, while watching late night TV (which I rarely do), I happened to pay attention to an ad (which I rarely do) for a biologic that could really help out a friend with a miserable chronic condition. Don’t know if it will work or not until they try, but they are exactly the right population for the treatment. None of their physicians suggested it, I didn’t think of it despite being vaguely familiar with this area of medicine, but the DTC ad was an inspiration. I still think on the balance that DTC marketing is bad, but this personal experience makes me question if the possibility of occasional successes overrides. I have no idea, but I spend a lot of time nursing my beer in the corner the pub trying to figure things out.