Pharma

Stories about Big Pharma are published regularly showing how they are making profits and taking advantage of people who need certain drugs. This is true but there is another side to the story. The US with 5% of the world's population spends 45% of all R&D money on new drugs. Drugs launched after 1981 have saved 149 million years of life. Many countries like China just steal research information. It is difficult to comprehend the effects of drugs on the lives of people around the world. Polio is a highly infectious disease affecting mostly young children. More than 20 million people are able to walk today who would otherwise have been paralyzed. As estimated 1.5 million childhood deaths have been prevented. A more recent example is A Commonwealth Fund study estimates that, through November 2022, COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million US hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths and saved the country $1.15 trillion. This is only two examples of the millions of people who are relieved of suffering and death by the modern drug industry. It is important for the government to regulate these companies in ways that does not interfere with the development of safe and inexpensive new cures.