Capitalism and Cancer

The thought that a company could put profit before human life is a concept which I believe everybody can agree is wrong, in fact abhorrent, and something which we should stand for; however, drugs companies are doing just that.

The future of cancer treatment is a larger pool of drugs, each aimed at smaller group of patients, but because they are more targeted, they are more effective, and can increase the chance of a patients survival. Cancer kills over 200,000 people a year in the UK and finding effective, life prolonging treatment could have major positive consequences on protecting valuable human life. However, this never ending quest for better drugs, may have a limit; a limit caused by capitalism.

A cancer drug costs around £500 million across 12 years to get to market and all of these new drugs will require this level of time and monetary commitment from drugs companies; but with a smaller patient group, it makes the returns on these investments smaller, to the point of unprofitable. So, with no money to be made, the drugs companies won't develop these more specific drugs and will focus on the mass market and big profit drugs, potentially costing human life.

These drug companies are putting profit before life, not the other way around. Remember also that a third of public funding for cancer drugs in the UK comes from charities, and public money contributes a considerable sum towards the funding of drug development, so it is only fair that these drug companies should put public health first, and focus not on profits, but on developing the best drugs possible, whatever the cost.

What I'm saying is that drug companies should work more closely together to focus resources and work. Clinical trials should become cheaper to execute (but to maintain public safety whilst cutting cost is hard) but most importantly, drug companies should become not-for-profit and work for the public and try to save lives.

Cancer kills, we all know that, but drug companies have the power and the ability to develop drugs that can help people beat this horrific disease, but because it will get in the way profits they wont do it. This is horrific and leads to the claim: capitalism kills.

(Obviously, suffering from lung cancer, my views on this are biased, but the point still stands)