Mother Jones Quotes Peter Maybarduk on How Pharmaceutical Companies Have No Incentive to Invest in Pandemics
By Nathan Kohrman
“Peter Maybarduk, of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, worries that the warped incentives in pharmaceutical development may hamper pandemic response. ‘Pharma doesn’t have an incentive to invest in pandemics,’ Maybarduk said. ‘Research is expensive and they don’t know what the next pandemic will be.’ The main reason Gilead seems prepared with remdesivir is because they started developing the drug back during the Ebola crisis. Pharma companies, often risk averse and reactive, rely on the government to conduct the financially risky basic science research. If a chemical shows promise, the pharmaceutical company will develop it—often with government funding—into a drug there’s already a need for.”
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