Capitalism Said Key to Finding New Drugs

The New York Sun reports:

The vast majority of drug development takes place within the private sector and not, as some claim, in government-funded laboratories, according to a new report.

Based on the case histories of 35 widely prescribed medications, researchers from the Manhattan Institute and Tufts University conclude in a report published today that almost all of the drugs they analyzed would not have been developed without private sector research. In 28 cases, researchers found that private sector research led to improvements in a drug's clinical performance or to a better way of manufacturing the drug.

It's time to separate medicine from state.