Tiresome

One complaint that is neither novel, intelligent, nor based in reality is the unending criticism of pharmaceutical manufacturers and their profits. Without drug companies, there would be no AIDS cocktail, no Avastin that shrinks cancerous colon tumors, no antibiotics that fight the infections that were once fatal (remember, in the Civil War more men died of battlefield wounds after battles than during battles), etc. But every populist dope complains about drug companies and their profits.

It's simple: drug companies must make large profits because they need to be able to bankroll the research they perform. The cost of developing new pharmaceuticals from concept through the FDA approval process is staggering, and drug companies are bearing that burden in the HOPE that the new pharmaceutical will be approved. Read Doug Bandow's column. Some facts he cites: pharmaceutical manufacturers test 5-10K compounds for each one that gets FDA approval and 70% of approved drugs are money-losers. Bashing drug makers, calling those companies "genocidal" and expecting cheap pharmaceuticals as a matter of right is simply disgraceful.