If The Government Wants Cheap Drugs It Should Be Funding Research

The FDA has today published a website listing the companies which are preventing the release of generic versions of their drugs, effectively forcing the cost of healthcare higher and higher. In the US, where healthcare is generally insurance backed that forces premiums higher and in most other countries it puts pressure on healthcare budgets.

In the UK government body called NICE decides whether the NHS will fund expensive drugs or not, effectively giving it life or death decisions to make for patients with curable or treatable issues.

The problem here is one of balance. Drug companies invest billions into research every year and not all of that results in any effective product, and even when it does there’s a real risk that it will fail somewhere on the way to getting certified for use on patients. When a drug makes it to market companies need to generate a profit. Not that I’m defending drug companies, some of their behaviours are outrageous.

That said, there is an obvious alternative option. Global governments could come together to fund academic research into the products themselves and then use the drug companies as contract manufacturers. Govenrments would absorb the risks and reap the benefits.

It may not even be something which comes to pass. After all, the very threat of this happening would surely bring the drug companies round to the idea of fairer lock out periods and early access to generic alternatives.