Re:Cancer Doctor Leading the Attack on Astronomical Drug Prices
by belorn on Wednesday June 03, 2015 @04:39AM
(#9651276)
Why should $30.9bn of tax money be infused to an industry if the public don't gain any benefits from it?
I am all for a fair market where those who spend money on development can recoup costs, but the current system is a bit silly. First they get to use tax funded research for free, then get extra funds from NiH, then they demand 20 years monopoly with some extra years of exclusivity added from doing test trials. And when that is done, try some Evergreening schemes to extend exclusivity into infinity.
The people who are hurt by all this also just happens to be sick people, people who die because they can only afford a inferior treatment. It things like this that calls for patent reforms so the public can get what it pays for, and where investing into medical research could become a low risk/low reward instead of high risk/high reward system.
I am all for a fair market where those who spend money on development can recoup costs, but the current system is a bit silly. First they get to use tax funded research for free, then get extra funds from NiH, then they demand 20 years monopoly with some extra years of exclusivity added from doing test trials. And when that is done, try some Evergreening schemes to extend exclusivity into infinity.
The people who are hurt by all this also just happens to be sick people, people who die because they can only afford a inferior treatment. It things like this that calls for patent reforms so the public can get what it pays for, and where investing into medical research could become a low risk/low reward instead of high risk/high reward system.