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by User23 1638 days ago
It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma. You are of course correct that pharma, like all businesses, loves recurring revenue. Statins made billions and billions to just give one example. Meanwhile Gilead made a Hepatitis B cure and while it did well the first couple years, profits dropped like a rock because, well, it was a cure. Goldman Sachs even helpfully pointed out in a research note that cures are economically inferior.
1 comments

> It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma.

I think you might be confusing support for vaccines as support for pharmaceutical companies, when that's actually far from the truth. To use your statin example, suggesting or even pressuring a sick loved one to take statins so they don't die a preventable death isn't implicit support for statin manufacturers, but recognition that in the face of preventable suffering or death, sometimes the pills are one of the least worst options available. Similarly, in the face of an ongoing pandemic, vaccines are one of the least worst options available compared to preventable illness and death.

> I think you might be confusing support for vaccines as support for pharmaceutical companies, when that's actually far from the truth.

I think the OP is still accurate, as people have been very defensive about questioning big pharma now and the media is calling everything “anti-vax” if even questions some details