The basic premise is kind of dumb because it’s irrelevant.
For one thing, the pharmaceutical industry isn’t one company, it’s hundreds. The example given (Gilead) is of one company that ate a market. They made $70 billion (and continuing) curing Hep C. They probably don’t lose sleep at night about the hundreds of billions in future revenue that will have prevented the other pharmaceutical companies from making when that disease is gone. This is one case where profit incentives align with human welfare.
Look at fisheries. They’re collapsing everywhere due to overfishing, the very definition of unsustainable business, because each individual fishermen’s incentive is to catch as much as they can.
For another, not all diseases are eliminated by the invention of a cure. Cures for cancer would lead to us living longer and getting more cancer. Cures for emphysema might cause more people to smoke and induce demand.
For one thing, the pharmaceutical industry isn’t one company, it’s hundreds. The example given (Gilead) is of one company that ate a market. They made $70 billion (and continuing) curing Hep C. They probably don’t lose sleep at night about the hundreds of billions in future revenue that will have prevented the other pharmaceutical companies from making when that disease is gone. This is one case where profit incentives align with human welfare.
Look at fisheries. They’re collapsing everywhere due to overfishing, the very definition of unsustainable business, because each individual fishermen’s incentive is to catch as much as they can.
For another, not all diseases are eliminated by the invention of a cure. Cures for cancer would lead to us living longer and getting more cancer. Cures for emphysema might cause more people to smoke and induce demand.