alt Hacker NewsYip, drugs are similar to software in this regard. Expensive to develop, very cheap to replicate. It'd make vastly more sense as a nationalized industry, because I think a profit motive is not only unnecessary, but actively harmful because the drugs that help society the most, and the drugs that make the most money, have little overlap.
If a big pharma had the choice between an expensive treatment that could help treat any cancer, or an extremely cheap treatment that could prevent any cancer - which would they pick? The answer when you're motivated by profit is unfortunately different than the one when you're motivated by social benefit. And this is more than just a thought experiment because this issue is going to drive which type of treatments are pursued.
Problem with those expensive treatments is that there are not that many cases. So profit from each is big but overall they add up to less. Getting everyone who can afford it on planet on some relatively cheap drug would be lot more profitable overall.
Get million out of thousand people or ten out of billion people... Later would be preferable.