No. Research would still be done by private companies. But we would pay them directly with money, instead of with an artificial monopoly. It's not free market anyway.
These companies could focus on pure research, and leave manufacturing to others. Their income would be more predictable too.
Cost could be shared among countries, proportional to their wealth. Research is very expensive, but it's a fixed cost. No reason to reinvent the wheel twice.
No more "convincing" doctors with "gifts" to use their products. No more money wasted on publicity. No more fake studies to boost sales.
Effort could be aimed towards deadly, rare or specially awful diseases, instead of profitable ones.
I guess patent lawyers would lose.
This system is far from perfect, as we know there is a lot of corruption in getting government contracts. But I still think it would be an improvement on what we have today. Medical research is already very difficult. No reason to make things worse with an outdated, inefficient and sometimes just outright evil funding mechanism.
These companies could focus on pure research, and leave manufacturing to others. Their income would be more predictable too.
Cost could be shared among countries, proportional to their wealth. Research is very expensive, but it's a fixed cost. No reason to reinvent the wheel twice.
No more "convincing" doctors with "gifts" to use their products. No more money wasted on publicity. No more fake studies to boost sales.
Effort could be aimed towards deadly, rare or specially awful diseases, instead of profitable ones.
I guess patent lawyers would lose.
This system is far from perfect, as we know there is a lot of corruption in getting government contracts. But I still think it would be an improvement on what we have today. Medical research is already very difficult. No reason to make things worse with an outdated, inefficient and sometimes just outright evil funding mechanism.