Have to call bullshit as well. Besides the fact that a good deal of developed drugs in the US are primarily developed with tax payer money, the fact is pharmacuticals have way too much power in the US. Yes, they deserve to make money, but seeing it is indeed a matter of life and death for almost every human at some point in their existance, they should not operate under the same freedoms as say, a record label.

Take HDL, most doctors would agree that making synthetic HDL would help the majority of people with heart disease, a top killer. Yet it was never made.

Why? It's easy enough to make, the fact is there is no money in it. Well actually, there is, but not the goddamn ludicrous margins they want.

Result? Millions die. So they find a family in Italy that has HDL that is a little better than average, but more importantly, the mutation allows it to be patented. Right to market. It's bullshit. I'm willing to bet that almost everyone here knows someone who had a heart attack. Where's the outrage?

I realize the drug companies are private, if they don't want to spend there money, fine. Why doesn't the goverment? It could save them untold millions (billions?) not to mention lives. The reason is conflict of interest.

This is but one of many examples.