Sure, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Nth vial cost $0.93 to produce.
The first vial cost $2,000,000,000.
Don't forget about the other drug research projects that failed and also cost billions in fruitless R&D.
The first vial cost $2,000,000,000.
Don't forget about the other drug research projects that failed and also cost billions in fruitless R&D.
Does a single drug and associated trials really cost billions to develop? That's a year's worth of pay for 10,000 scientists at 200k/year (I suspect this is a rather high rate for most phd researchers). Most research teams are < 10 people [1]. You could fund 500 large research teams working on different drugs for 2 billion for a year. Let's say just one team, that funds them for 500 years.
Obviously there are other costs (rent, equipment, materials). But where is that money going? It doesn't seem to be going towards doing the science. It's extremely difficult to find breakdowns of R+D costs - seems to be a tightly held secret at big pharma.
Then, it's still the responsibility of pharma companies to figure out how to create a compound that can then safely trigger the change of protein X -> Y
How does being funded by the taxpayers mean anything?
Why not? Corporations are still taxed on their profits.