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Originally Posted by PeteG
I'm sure we'll have those that will rationalize and support them for what they charge, citing research money, time invested, etc. Don't believe the hype, though.
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You are right, that is the reason they use to justify the large markups. But what most people don't know is that its our tax money that pays for most of the research for these drugs.
The government gives large research grants to these companies, and then when they develop the drugs they are allowed to keep ownership of the pantents. If our tax money is going to pay for the research, then the patents should go into the public domain (i.e socialized medicine). Otherwise, let the drug companies pay for their own research and let us keep our tax money.
A friend of mine always jokes that the United States is not a Capitalist country. He says we have a mixed system: Socialism for the rich and Capitalism for the poor. This is a fine example of how that mixed system functions.