but fuck if pharma will ever do the basic research that they really, really really need to get anything done because they’re super short-sighted. i mean, ten years ago nobody thought about cancer immunotherapy, now bristol-meyers squibb is selling Ipilimumab for 120k for a treatment. christ.
pharma has the same problem as every other industry that relies on significant long-term investments to keep profits high: idiot shareholders and fund managers who shuffle around their portfolios every few months and who don’t give a shit where the company is in ten years
increase long-view basic research and the quarterlies look worse, everyone dumps the stock and tanks its price, execs who all hold tons of stock lose money, and the board fires them. slash R&D and the few remaining buy-and-hold investors will complain but the short-timers love it and want back on board because the quarterlies suddenly look great, so the share price soars, and stockholding execs make money and look like geniuses
inherent contradictions of late capitalism etc etcÂ
