MemberThe conundrum is this:
FDA trials cost a lot. They are also probably inefficient too. Therefore only drugs that can make a good ROI and are proprietary are going to be funded. This leaves out many other classes of drugs that are readily available and cheap but just require a procedure that isn't FDA approved. Why would a pharma company invest all the time and money needed to push through FDA trials so that once it is approved, any compounding pharmacy can create the drug for $1 a dose?
The answer is that the government needs to be funding the creation and testing of new drugs. I'm not talking about single payer health care at all, which is what most people think of when they think of socialized medicine.
Many people would disagree. But we socialize the cost of developing military hardware, like jets and tanks, that's totally socialistic, and these things do the opposite of medicine, they kill. We also give way too much money away to other militaries.
How many diseases could we cure with that kind of money?
FDA trials cost a lot. They are also probably inefficient too. Therefore only drugs that can make a good ROI and are proprietary are going to be funded. This leaves out many other classes of drugs that are readily available and cheap but just require a procedure that isn't FDA approved. Why would a pharma company invest all the time and money needed to push through FDA trials so that once it is approved, any compounding pharmacy can create the drug for $1 a dose?
The answer is that the government needs to be funding the creation and testing of new drugs. I'm not talking about single payer health care at all, which is what most people think of when they think of socialized medicine.
Many people would disagree. But we socialize the cost of developing military hardware, like jets and tanks, that's totally socialistic, and these things do the opposite of medicine, they kill. We also give way too much money away to other militaries.
"Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts provided to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and the largest total recipient since World War ll. Total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. Israel receives over $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America's entire foreign aid budget. In per capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain."
- John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt
"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"
- John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt
"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"
How many diseases could we cure with that kind of money?
