CMV: The United States needs a price cap on pharmaceuticals.

I’m no expert but I’d put my knowledge on this topic above that of the average joe. My masters research was related to drug development. You’ve pretty much nailed it. You’ve actually done better then I would’ve and provided some hard data on it. Once you understand the rough idea behind drug development you can logically deduce the effect of price caps (but not with the very nice & precise numbers you found)

It comes down to drug development is very a high risk game. Even with the best science it amounts to gambling that your r & d project that will take 10-20 years will not fail. Those profit margins do a couple of things. It covers the companie’s butt when a project fails (pretty often) and it gives them the capital to invest in more research. Op needs to realize that the United States is responsible for most of the word’s drug development. Those price caps come with a cost- a lot less drug development.

If you are interested here is this . It’s a nice video that breaks down the process. Start at about 2:40. The relevant part is the next 6-9 minutes

/r/changemyview Thread Parent