Big Pharma obviously won't support the idea of a vaccine that is distributed free of charge around the world . . .
I object to this whole notion that Big Pharma will oppose this or that new drug. This kind of thing has often been expressed here lately. I wish people would think about it, and stop saying this. Big Pharma is NOT opposed to curing diseases. Even eradicating them, the way smallpox was eradicated. Smallpox vaccine sales fell to zero. Big Pharma does not miss the profit it used to make selling smallpox vaccines. Why? Because there are any number of other diseases. It is not like we are running out of dire illnesses. Big Pharma will have its work cut out for it for centuries to come.
Big Pharma is not opposed to something like an influenza vaccine that targets all species, and prevents all forms, unlike today's version that only targets 3 forms. Suppose this version cost less. Or suppose you only needed this vaccine once every 10 years. That would reduce overall sales by a factor of 10. A pharma company wouldn't care, because -- as I said -- there are plenty of other diseases, and because more people would get the new vaccination. If company A develops that vaccine, it would sell like hotcakes even if overall sales of flu vaccines falls by a factor of 10. Their competitors would lose business. Believe me, it never bothers people at company A to see that companies B, C and D have lost nearly all their business.
GE and other light bulb makers were not opposed to making CFL and later LED lights. They knew those bulbs last so long that overall sales would fall even though the bulbs were more expensive. Okay, there may have been some stupid managers in these companies who opposed the development of these new types because they would cannibalize sales. But most of them knew that if GE did not develop an LED, Siemens would.
The other absurd idea bandied about here is that Big Pharma does not care if patients are harmed. As I said before, they would be destroyed by a class action lawsuit. More to the point, it is never good business to kill off your customers. Unless you are selling highly addictive cigarettes or opium, your customers will go to your competitors. Most of the execs, salespeople and workers at big pharma are ordinary people. Upstanding citizens with an ordinary sense of morality. They do not want to kill other people. There are exceptions. Purdue Pharma made tremendous amounts of money selling OxyContin, continuing long after they realized it was dangerous. Those people really are as bad as the worst portrayals of "Big Pharma" described here. You can always find companies, political parties, websites and other institutions run by sociopaths. See: