Pharmacies need new drugs.

[Swampy]

I've been tabs on this for awhile. The rise of superbugs means new drugs are needed, because the old ones are becoming less effective, but the cost of research is getting ever more expensive, while the FDA is slow in approving new drugs.

The VC's aren't supporting the startups, because of the risk and time factors, so the giants in the industry are providing support to universities and smaller startups. But, of course, there will always be tensions between the startups and their bigger partners.

I wonder if there's a way out of this.

[mcnoch]

The big companies have cut back their own budgets significantly over the past 15 years to hand out more and more money to their shareholders only investing into drugs that promise a very high gain. Here in Europe the universities and public research institutions are jumping into the breach of basic and advanced research but will retain the patents for the new drugs based on their research. This will mean that the pharmacy corporations move into a darker times after a book-time with big gains from good progress based on fundamental research. But as the governments stopped the fundamental research and the private sector – despite promises to the opposite – didn’t took over, we have now a progress-gap.

[Swampy]

And, if the companies don't pump out new drugs, the world will be in trouble, because we depend on continuing advances in medication.

[Swampy]

This report is becoming standard among venture capitalists - they have lots of money to invest, but they aren't putting it in the places that are giving returns. In fact, they are focusing on internet and software firms, as opposed to pharmaceuticals and other areas that urgently need money but which are high risk.

Thing is, if there's a high risk, there can be a high return. VC's of all people, should know that.

[mcnoch]

But VCs are the completely wrong business partner for such endeavors. This is very long-time, high risk investments, nothing to cash out big money over a short time to give high-percentage return to their investors. It is a perfect example for “why markets fail and the governments have to run the show”.

[Swampy]

Governments haven't exactly beaten the market even in long-term investments.

[jerryfmcompushaft]

Can anyone come up with some government sponsored pharm advance that was not connected to another need like space or military?

[Deleted]

I've been doing the best I can for many years supporting the pharms, taking in excess of 20 pills a day. Drugs are my friends!

[jerryfmcompushaft]

Oct 15, 2012 7:49:32 GMT -5 @kylenedenny said:

I've been doing the best I can for many years supporting the pharms, taking in excess of 20 pills a day. Drugs are my friends!

And without them we prolly wouldn't have you around here to pick on Yea for free enterprize!!

[Swampy]

They talk of the need for big government, but, hey, universities are big government, and what have their pharmacology and bio-chemistry departments done to help this crisis? Not very much.

Milton Friedman explains to Donoghue on why free markets work - this was presumably in the 1970's, but his words have stood the test of time.

[Sir John]

Jerry,


#6


www.csiro.au/



JS

[mcnoch]

German Federal research agencies and university hospitals get every year 4,3 billion € from their research patent fees and experts say that they licensed their results under value. So it can't be that bad, at least here.

[dontom]

"I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worse for the fishes."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

-Don Quoteman