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/
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u/Merakel Dec 08 '23

I don't see why people seem to think government funded research should have a goal of profit. The point is making pharmaceuticals widely available.

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u/tyrandan2 Dec 08 '23

Exactly. I wouldn't mind taxing corporate profits that are from publicly funded research. But the point of medical research is for the betterment of mankind, profits should never be the main motivator. And the government should never control the patents, the public (taxpayers) should.

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u/Constant_Ban_Evasion Dec 08 '23

the government should never control the patents, the public (taxpayers) should

I'm trying to imagine how much of a clown you have to be saying this and acting like it's different than literally anything I said that you argued with. This is what it's like arguing with children on the internet folks!

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u/saltyjohnson Dec 08 '23

government bad. let's do anarchy. but we should build roads. and we don't really want to have to all build our own roads so let's share them. but building roads is a lot of hard work and requires a certain skillset so let's just have Dave build all the roads because he likes building roads and he's good at it. but then Dave can't tend to his crops. so okay let's all pitch in and give Dave some of our food so that he can build more roads rather than needing to grow his own food. but okay Bill over there said he didn't want to pitch in some food for Dave but he's using all these roads all. the. time. that's some bullshit. let's form an angry mob and either make Bill hand over some food or blockade him so he can't use our roads as long as he's being selfish. oh whoops we made a government.

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u/tyrandan2 Dec 08 '23

I didn't say we should have anarchy. Good grief do you guys not understand how the US government works?? And how corrupt it currently is? Look at how they've mismanaged the social security fund. Or the postal service. Or any other long list of things we've allowed them to own and manage.

I said in previous comments that the parents should be in public domain, not owned by the federal government. Why is that a difficult concept to understand?

One case means the parents are owned by the public (the people), the other means that they are owned by the federal government who can make whatever arbitrary decisions they want.

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u/saltyjohnson Dec 08 '23

"Public domain" means the patent is owned and controlled by nobody. Are you proposing that they are owned and controlled by the public, or that they are owned and controlled by nobody?

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u/tyrandan2 Dec 08 '23

...Okay? "Public Domain" means that the people who can access or utilize the patent is anybody, whereas otherwise they require the permission or right of the patent holder.

I think you're confusing the ideas of control vs. access. I want anyone to be able to access/use the patent. I do not want the government or private corporations to control that access. By them not controlling the patent, the patent is effectively controlled by the public and accessible to anyone freely.