Cancer Research & NHS Drugs etc

Here's a thing.
You know how we contribute to Cancer Research, and all the other charities that try to find cures for the ailments that beset mankind?
And you know how when a drug company finds a pill that helps treat a problem, for instance Herceptin prescribed for breast cancer.
And you know how the NHS is having a hard time paying for these drugs - like, you can have a hundred kidney transplants or two Herceptin treatments.
What I want to know is this: Who does the research that leads to the drugs, and who gets copyright/patents to earn billions from them?
It strikes me that if it's the drugs companies, what are the charitable organsations struggling to find money for, and if it's the charities, then why are they not getting the patent money from the outrageously expensive prices the drugs are being sold for?
This is not a dig at either the charities or drug companies by the way.

Interesting point.

I suppose a lot would depend WHO discovered the drug. If it was a charity for example, then I'd expect them to licence it at a reasonably low cost, keeping it available to all but maybe giving the charity some income for future work.

Surely any drug discovered by a charity isn't being marketed at prices far and above there actual cost to produce?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tubthumper

you know how when a drug company finds a pill that helps treat a problem, for instance Herceptin prescribed for breast cancer.
And you know how the NHS is having a hard time paying for these drugs - like, you can have a hundred kidney transplants or two Herceptin treatments.
What I want to know is this: Who does the research that leads to the drugs, and who gets copyright/patents to earn billions from them?

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Drugs companies have their own research programs which they have to fund for themselves. Of all drugs formulated and investigated there's only one in hundreds that is proved to do what was wanted, and proved to be safe enough for human use.

It takes years and years to synthesize a new drug and get it to the point where it can be sold - that's why drugs are expensive. Years-worth of funding of hundreds of projects that came to nothing have to be paid for by the drug company. That's why the company can patent a drug for a period of years - to give them a chance to earn their money back.

Tempting as it might seem to impose price controls on drugs, it'd be the kiss of death to drugs R&D.

The NHS might be having a hard time paying for some drug treatments but interestingly, the German, French and American health care systems have no problem at all. Postcode prescribing is unknown in those countries.

Raigmore Hospital do chemotherapy trials, but the drugs used are the same as the patient would have anyway and they can stop at anytime. the only difference with the trials is that they experiment with quantities not drugs .the only problem is having to go to Raigmore all the time for chemo instead of wick.