> if you want a cure for cancer, you have to pay scientists to look for it.
We do that. It's a two-tier system where the public pays for the science and the companies fish ideas from the science to make into medicines.
>The fact that it's hard is the reason it's expensive.
No, the reason it is expensive is because we've signalled that we are willing to pay large amounts of money, essentially regardless of the actual benefit extended by the state of the art treatment. Even if the state of the science doesn't have much to offer in the way of a cure, you can count on the private sector to make drugs that push the envelope of what we are willing to pay.
But because the job that the private sector does is not the "rate limiting step" as it were, dumping more cash on them is just wasted money.
> No, the reason it is expensive is because we've signalled that we are willing to pay large amounts of money, essentially regardless of the actual benefit extended by the state of the art treatment.
Not the cost of medicine, the cost of medical research. If finding a cure for cancer wasn't expensive then either we've been doing something very wrong or we should have found it already.
And if it's expensive then the reward has to meet the expense in order to get someone to do it.
We do that. It's a two-tier system where the public pays for the science and the companies fish ideas from the science to make into medicines.
>The fact that it's hard is the reason it's expensive.
No, the reason it is expensive is because we've signalled that we are willing to pay large amounts of money, essentially regardless of the actual benefit extended by the state of the art treatment. Even if the state of the science doesn't have much to offer in the way of a cure, you can count on the private sector to make drugs that push the envelope of what we are willing to pay.
But because the job that the private sector does is not the "rate limiting step" as it were, dumping more cash on them is just wasted money.