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The argument is that it's more profitable to sell a pill you have to take every day for an extended period of time (or forever) than it is to sell a pill you only have to take once (or a small number of times). Recurring revenue is generally more desirable than a lump sum. There's still a strong incentive to make the disease manageable. It has nothing to do with saving money on research or keeping their jobs.

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That's what the second argument answers to. If your competitor produce a one time treatment then he wins the entire market.

That doesn't logically follow. Why would a one time treatment win the market? Lasik is a one time treatment that certainly hasn't eliminated the market for daily contacts. The ability to buy a house hasn't eliminated the market for renting. The one time treatment has to pay for its development in a single dose, the recurring treatment can amortize its costs over many doses. In general, you will have to pay a premium for the convenience of a single dose, and many people can't justify that cost.

That's a really good point about lasik. Great example thank you. But at the same time I guess it cuts both ways because lasik exists. but what I'm specially worried about is that cures might be designed to not be perfect so that maybe you need to buy them again in 15 years or something just like a light bulb they can make perfect light bulbs but they design them to be obsolete so they can sell more. Why would not the same economics operate in the pharmaceutical industry I think it's a tragedy that it might when they should stick with their hippocratic principles.

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