[refurb]

Yeah, no.

Regulators put no money into it other than what it costs to fund it's own regulatory process. And, under PDUFA, drug manufactures pay >$1M to fund the review of their drug. It's paid for by industry.

Yes, clinical trials are often run by hospitals and universities, but manufacturers pay for everything. Drugs, people, etc.

And you forgot to mention that failures are privatized too. Spend $500M on a trial that fails? That's not the public's money, that's investors money.

[astazangasta]

It's the public's money, since the only reason that the investors have that money is they are given patent monopolies that allow them to take in 1.5% of GDP in rents every year.

[credit_guy]

And my house is a public good, since the only reason it's not being vandalized/robbed/burnt down is that the public spends x.y% of the GDP on law enforcement

[astazangasta]

Your house, if it is like mine, is a lot more reasonably a public good than it is "private property". I didnt build this thing, will "own" it for probably 5% of its existence and do little to maintain it myself. Yeah, you are right. We owe a lot more to the "public" than we usually acknowledge.