I benefit from an orphan drug, and the R&D was most definitely subsidised by the public purse.
My insurance pays a few grand a month for it.
The mfg coupon covers most of the rest, minus a copay.
This is the second iteration of the original drug. The first hasn’t meaningfully fallen in price and only the original company can manufacture and distribute the generic even under the name of competitors.
There was no breakthrough in the second iteration, and the logic to solve the “problem” they solved was straightforward. So now I pay more, for an anecdotally less effective version that addresses a risk irrelevant to me but present in the original.
There is yet a third iteration on the way.
Shock revelations:
pharma companies are greedy and will double dip against both government subsidies and patients/insurance at every opportunity.
XX Pharma didn’t pay for the original R&D, my gov did.
if one replaces Na with a/several similar elements, one still ends up with a salt, often resulting in a drug variant that “doesn’t affect blood pressure” and offers no other real benefits, nor risks.
Clinical trials for said alternative salt are broadly leas expensive than for the original. That does not result in lower prices.
Nationalise pharma research, if not the manufacturers.
Also, generics are often manufactured in countries with, shall we say, fewer controls and regulations. Know who makes those pills and where. If you can’t stomach the FDA reports on that manufacturer, find a pharmacy who will sell you something else…