"SIKO
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First of all, a lot of medical research is funded by the government (NIH). It is not all funded by companies. Why do you think the scientific community was so upset when Bush created laws so that the government could not fund any more stem cell research?? Most of the ideas for new drugs are a result of basic research done in academia which is funded by the government. For instance, my husband's academic lab recently solved a structure of a bacterial ribozyme and are currently developing new antibiotics based on that structure (all government funded and private non-profit funded research). If you are really concerned about medical research funding and development of new drugs then you should be upset with Bush for gutting the NIH budget to fund the Iraq war. Many pharmaceutical companies actually rely on basic research funded by the government. If the government wasn't around to fund research that might take years and years before ever going anywhere I doubt the stock holders in many private companies would step up and take such a HUGE risk. It's no accident there are so many great impotency drugs.
Also where do you think the scientific researchers in those pharmaceutical companies come from???...I've never heard of anyone getting their PhD from the University of Pfizer. They are trained in academia. Less money for academia means less researchers for pharmaceutical companies to recruit AND less research for them to get ideas for new drugs from. A perfect example of the kind of synergistic relationship between drug companies and academic research is the drug Gleevec, which has been one of the most successful anti cancer drugs.
Also what would you say about the big pharmaceutical companies are based in countries like France (Aventis) and Switzerland (Novartis, Roche) that have socialized medicine?
Why is this discussion operating from the assumption that the universal health care in the US would have to follow the steps of Canada or other countries I've heard cited??? Why couldn't our system not allow utra-bargain discount drugs if that's what you're worried about? It seems that we understand that health care is a right (ie. ER laws) but we are too lazy to address the real problem.... Trial attorneys!... no morons!.... the real problem is for-profit insurance companies. I don't want my health care system driven by the stock market...I want it to be driven by kindness, caring, and good-will towards all people, not profit margins. How would you feel if it was your child who couldn't afford enzymes??? My friend with epilepsy had a lapse in insurance coverage and couldn't afford his medication. He had to go to the emergency room every time he needed medication (they didn't give him enough to last for very long AND it involved hours and hours of waiting. Not something a working father and student can fit in easily.) Anyway he had a grand mal seizure in a small pizza parlor and cracked his head on a counter.
