no patents, but also no regulation. Now, this is what gave us antibiotics and aspirin. The current over-regulated system can give us only stagnation.
> In medieval Europe, pearl powder was widely perceived to have therapeutic qualities. It was used to treat the insanity of Charles VI of France (1368-1422), and the fever of which Lorenzo de Medici died in 1492.
Incidentally, both mechanisms allow spending a couple of hundred millions (or even billions) of Dollars for a potentially even bigger profit.
A third way is government financed research, which may be a competitive option in some cases.