Of Pharmas and Telcos

“Of Pharmas and Telcos
A truism circulating in the halls of Bell Labs in the 1980s and 1990s was that the pharmas and the telcos had higher operating profits than other business sectors because they both had huge upfront costs driven by research and development and long times between risk and reward.
What would we think of a Scrooge who could cure diseases that blighted thousands of people's lives but did not do so? Clearly, we would be horrified. But this has increasingly been happening in the name of economics, under the innocent sounding guise of "intellectual property rights."
Stiglitz outlines the fact that generic drugs (e.g., for AIDS) can cost 100 times less than the same drugs that are protected by intellectual property rights, and many die as a result. He attacks Big Pharma's claim that such monopolization spurs big research spending by noting that drugcos spend more on advertising and marketing than they do on research, and they're far more likely to fund research on "lifestyle drugs" than on killer diseases that afflict poor countries.
The antidote Stiglitz proposes is a medical prize fund to reward the development of public-domain cures for low-profit-potential diseases like malaria. This, he says, could be one of several ways to promote innovation where it is needed.”

David Isenberg

Our economy IS run by profit.
Our society IS run by profit.
Every company HAS to make profits.
And every year BIGGER profits.
Of course the pharmas research and produce what sells best.
And that is what can slightly change OUR life style.
The lifestyle of the people who can afford to pay.
That makes huge profits.
Viagra makes huge profits, while a NEW drug against Malaria WOULDN’T.
Either we change the way we think and we live or things will go on this way, as long as the rich will rule and consume most of the resources of the planet where we live.