Pharma Has Found a Profitable Vaccine Model in Taxpayer Money
Soaring demand and infusions of public dollars have given pharmaceutical companies a lucrative route to a Covid-19 vaccine
Vaccines may be a poor business model, but events of the last few months show that there is still money to be made. Despite being one of the most influential biomedical discoveries, vaccines continue to be a difficult and expensive product to produce. Between costly scientific development and lengthy clinical trials a vaccine that may only be administered once — as a truly effective vaccine would — may leave pharmaceutical companies absorbing losses at the end of the day. However, with recent demand for a Covid-19 vaccine these companies — and their executives — have found an unprecedented path to profitability.
The first vaccine was developed in the late 1700s against the now eradicated smallpox virus. Dr. Edward Jenner found that exposing people to a small amount of a similar virus — the cowpox virus — would confer immunity to smallpox infection. Later in the mid-1900s, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against the polio virus — a disease that had caused paralysis in tens of thousands of children. Salk’s discovery set off a wave of research into vaccines.
Feeling that vaccines were…
