The U.S. government has decided to enter the pharmaceutical business. Apparently, the drug companies aren't coming out with new "breakthrough" drugs quickly enough, and now the U.S. government plans to spend taxpayer dollars conducting research on drugs which will be turned over to Big Pharma. Those drug companies, in turn, will sell them for a profit. It's yet another clear case where the government is taking over the health care (sick care) industry and funneling profits into the hands of pharmaceutical corporations.
The NIH, of course, is a revolving door for Big Pharma executives. Dr William Potter, for example, was formerly a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, after which he became the vice president of translational neuroscience at Merck. And the government money that goes into these so-called drug "discoveries" will only end up boosting the profits of drug companies rather than fundamentally improving the health of the American people. (More drugs does not equal better health. If anything it's an inverse correlation: More drugs = more degenerative disease!)
The myth of drug research
Of course, the bigger issue here concerns the mythology of drug development. The idea that every disease can be treated with a patented synthetic chemical is increasingly being revealed as absurd from the outset. The highly corrupt cancer industry has been promising a "cure" for cancer since the 1960's... if only they could have another few billion dollars in funding. And yet, year after year, their promises turn out to be yet another fundraising hoax. The whole scheme has now devolved into grotesque absurdity with pink products flooding store shelves backed by the ludicrous idea that "we can all cure cancer by going shopping."
