[ulfw]

Because imagine just for the sake of discussion (I am well aware this is not possible. Just trying to make an extreme point. You could pick HIV or MS or Parking's or any other incurable disease) there was a magic pill that could cure cancer. You take it once a day for a week and any cancer is gone. Doesn't matter which cancer. All of them, gone for good. Magical!

Would would ANY private enterprise (i.e. pharmaceutical company) want to fund research that would enable that?

The immense money (the US spends over $200B a year in cancer 'treatments') that these companies would not be making anymore would deter any such research.

Same goes for many other scientific discoveries. Some are for the greater humanitarian good, not for private enterprise profit maximisation.

[FredPret]

All companies are not one giant entity. Even when they illegally collude, they're holding onto their knives and keeping a keen eye on one another's backs.

Of course any company would take this deal and make a boatload of money (though less than the $200B / year).

Undercutting all its competitors would be a bonus, not a deterrent.

This has happened so many times throughout history. New tech comes in, does the same thing cheaper and better, old companies die out kicking and screaming.