What second or third order effects might happen? I’m not saying the status quo is the only reasonable equilibrium, but if you take the profit motive out of something (anything), I worry that you’ll get fewer of society’s resources directed towards that area. Maybe that’s money, attention of the brightest/most creative thinkers, willingness to do the outright drudgery required to invent, perceived status of the field, etc.

If you want a lot of drug research, you probably want to ensure that successful drug research is lucrative. (Maybe less than today, maybe making unsuccessful research or negative reproduction more lucrative than today.)

> The NIH should fund and produce these drugs, no patents, free for all to produce.

There is nothing to stop that under the current model. It just isn't happening.

Creating drugs is usually not the big cost. Regulatory compliance is.

Reforming the FDA process could save an large amount of lives and money.

What are the other kinds of methods