[spaetzleesser]

I wonder how the fact that this is a German company relates to people in the US always being told that they have to pay multiples of international drug prices so the US companies can do the research the rest of the world is not doing.

[pen2l]

One of the costliest things a pharmaceutical company does in R&D stage is clinical trials and scaling later on... and that's the reason why Pfizer was sought out for this. Of coure kudos to these German scientists, but much kudos should also be given to Pfizer for their integral role to play it out to the last mile.

[fastball]

You don't think Americans buy drugs from German companies?

[spaetzleesser]

They do. But a lot of Americans believe that drug prices here are so high because nowhere else in the world research is done.

[fastball]

The reasoning I've heard (and I can't say I disagree with) is that if drug prices in the US weren't market driven, big pharma would have much smaller war chests to work with when it comes to R&D.

As in this case, where Pfizer specifically chose not to take any government support, supposedly because they wanted to avoid any bureaucratic delays.