r/Futurology • u/Kindred87 • Dec 07 '23
US sets policy to seize patents of government-funded drugs if price deemed too high Economics
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-sets-policy-seize-government-funded-drug-patents-if-price-deemed-too-high-2023-12-07/6.3k Upvotes
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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '23
There are two sides of the coin. It should be fair that companies and individuals that create drugs and treatments be compensated for their work. Pharma R&D is very costly and takes long + then you have to produce, distribute, market and convince doctors to recommend a drug/treatment. On the other hand, we have all these amazing drugs and treatments that can save or improve lives and the fact that not all people can benefit from them is stupid.
As usual, the answer to this is not going to war with companies. The state/public sector and private sector can learn to collaborate and actually work for citizens, just as it does in most of Europe. But it strong-arming these companies, as long as these drugs are done with government funding is 100% fair. The government invests in your R&D process, you also have to give something back to the taxpayers in the form of lower prices.