Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
^ If you were to need to nationalize drug development, funding Universities to do it would probably be the best way to go.
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That's what USSR did. As a result, no new breakthrough drugs have been developed there since 1917. I could be wrong on this but I am not aware of a single drug that was patented in USSR first and then copied in the west.
To be fair, there have been some spectacular breakthrough treatments developed by the individual Soviet genius doctors (i.e first ever laser eye surgery, some impressive bone and joint therapies), but very rarely.
You cannot nationalize entrepreneurial spirit, innovation and ingenuity successfully. China has been actively stealing technical and scientific secrets for three decades now but could not do anything new with them until they had partially privatized the industry. Nationalization always leads to the active promotion of undeserving individuals to the top posts in government corporations, corruption and stagnation.