The only argument against publicly funded drug production is that profit seeking is more efficient and the societal outcome is improved by not funding a public body to do this.

As other comments highlight, not only do societies publicly fund research (eg C19), they provide a legal system that protects monopoly profits, and won’t use single-payer bargaining on price…

So when pharmaceuticals then drop more cash on executives and shareholders it’s natural to question turning Covid19, cancer, or obesity etc into a profit centre for the wealthiest in society