Quote:
Originally Posted by Major
Regarding drug companies, I work in Kendall Square, where there is even more development than on 128. Our firm represents a lot of start up pharma companies. Be careful what you wish for. I don't fault drug companies one bit for profiting on the investments they make. These companies hire the world's brightest people to solve the most difficult of medical issues. (The reason why most of these companies have a huge presence in Kendall Square is that they want to be close to the talent.) For every drug that makes it, thousands of drugs don't, representing billions upon billions of dollars lost. If you would prefer lower costs for existing drugs, then you can expect a serious reduction in R&D.
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I'll take that a step further.... I work for a company that does clinical trials for all the major drug companies. For every drug that hits the market there are likely hundreds if not thousands of failed trials that contribute to a single success. This represents an enormous investment of both time and money to get these things to market and work their way through the FDA approval process. Mind you the drug companies are not necessarily gouging people, why some drugs are way more expensive than others is mostly a result of the aforementioned process given the limited amount of time the drug companies have to recoup costs before they become eligible to become generics. Also not taken under consideration is how exotic the process is to manufacture them and the overall demand for them. The bottom line is it takes a lot to get them out there and the general public just seems to think this all should just be provided because they want it cheap and the drug companies are evil for wanting to make a buck or two.
Also another factor, even drugs that have made it into the market place some times have long term effects that are negative in nature not known at the time of release. This turns into massive class action lawsuits which the drug companies, doctors and even us - a third party clinical trial company have to defend, many time resulting in massive payouts. Keep in mind people this is not exact 100% science and while so many "miracle" drugs have been created - you cannot expect that every drug out there is going to be a home run. These are drugs for humans created by humans. That's not to say some compensation is not due but getting millions of dollars because your hair turned green isn't exactly an equitable solution yet many times that is exactly what happens.
Bottom line, many now a days are spoiled and want to pop a pill to address any and every ailment, pain or fill in the blank they have and expect that it will cost them little or nothing to do so with no side effects or risks. That is simply never going to happen.
The reduction in R&D is already happening we've seen a number of trials pulled not because of a lack of success but the over run of costs to keep them going where ultimately the bang for the buck isn't there. Sad considering it is the current climate that is making some of this stuff cost prohibitive to continue.