> In any case it's nearly irrelevant because this was completely post-hoc rationale for pricing this drug
Drug development, like tech startups, is high risk, but every now and then creates a lot of economic value. To make the system sustainable, there must be a way of capturing a significant chunk of that value from those "unicorns." So yes, it's post hoc in the sense that you don't know until after you roll the decide whether a particular drug is going to create a lot of value or not. That's the case with most high risk investments.
> Forgive me for thinking you are defending the wrong system.
Forgive me for thinking that people are completely nuts for thinking it's a good idea to lower the potential rewards to investment for industries that are "more important." It's completely ass-backward.
I meant the pricing was post-hoc in the sense that they came up with a story like yours for why it was worth $84,000 when they were bringing it to market. There was no precedent for a pill that costly when the research was undertaken. Even in the case of HCV--the best case to be discussing if you're an advocate of for-profit medicine--it's not a good example of an incentive structure.
In any case it's nearly irrelevant because this was a completely post-hoc rationale for pricing this drug. I am not opposed to large cash bounties for major advances but our current system is not remotely designed around that principle. Forgive me for thinking you are defending the wrong system.