[HarryHirsch]

It's difficult. On one hand, the pharmco needs to make money to continue on their mission. (What their mission is is another difficult problem, I believe is isn't "shareholder value", that is a cancer on society.) On the other hand, the product alleviates human suffering, sometimes on a large scale.

A case study that everyone should be aware of is the story of Praziquantel in South Korea.

Here's a reference: https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/480/20...

Praziquantel is about the only thing that works against schistosoma, a very debilitating condition. The compound was discovered in the early 1970s in a joint venture between Bayer and Merck KGA. At that time South Korea had a major schistosoma problem, but Merck could not supply at a price Korea was willing to pay (at that time Park Chung-Hee was in power, it was a military dictatorship).

Korean leadership declared praziquantel a national security issue (true) and started manufacturing their own, and in a collaboration between KIST and Shinpoong Pharmaceuticals developed their own process, which was much cheaper than the original Merck isoquinoline route.

The effort was a major part of the development of a domestic pharmaceutical industry. Shinpoong still hold 50 % of the market in praziquantel.