I agree wholeheartedly with the two of you on this. People who run pharmaceutical companies do care a lot about
their bottom line, and no, I wouldn't say they are the most altruistic people...but they are not the only factor in curing disease. Undoubtedly, a great amount of these people are affected by disease as well, so they personally stand to gain from cures.
There are many chronic conditions that need better drugs, and guess what that requires? More knowledge about
our conditions. Pharmaceutical companies are in competition with each other and getting that blockbuster drug that controls a condition well would lend a huge advantage over other companies. Look at car companies. It used to be that you needed to buy a car every few years until one company (and I can't quite remember which one at the moment) decided they wanted to make a car that lasted much longer in order to get ahead of the competition. Now cars are getting better fuel economy, lasting really long, and even Tesla is working to completely shake up the car industry with an amazing electric car (well at least I think so).
I guess my point is that there is always competition to be the best and there are always people who want to shake up their industries. There are good people who would love to be put out of a job and go work on another disease. Everyone is affected by horrible disease in some way, and I wouldn't doubt some heads of big pharmaceutical companies have been affected by horrible diseases they wish they could cure.
www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2012/dec/07/cancer-conspiracy-theories?guni=Article:in%20body%20linkwww.cancertreatmen***ch.org/q/conspiracy.shtml <-- it's cancertreatment.w.a.tch
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