"this is our development cost for the drug, these are our costs for developing failed drugs, +30% profit margin."
That's not how for-profit companies work. Literally not a single company in the world operates that way.
Who is it, that you think will invest $2.5B into something that will take a decade and will almost certainly fail, on the promise of a 30% profit?
How VERY KIND it is for that company to lower the price to affordability for foreigners while screwing over their own countrymen by charging rates here that challenge even the deepest US pockets.
Yes, how truly awful for the US to contribute something positive to the rest of the world, for once.
In late 2020's instead of RIGHT NOW. D'you realize how much human misery that delay means?
Do you realize that that misery exists independently of Gilead, and they're the only ones to have done anything about it? They pulled together an insane amount of money and effort (and luck) and made a huge impact on that misery now and will likely help eradicate it in a few years. A single cured person is a positive change.
You, on the other hand, have opinions about what they should be "allowed" to charge, because you can imagine some ideal society where all of this is magically taken care of by state money.
In short: I know plenty of scientists who would be willing to work for nothing more than the betterment of society, but I don't know any investors who would contribute billions of dollars for the same goal.
