I tend to agree with Curry and Dvorak on this one.

Given the insane amount of money these companies can afford to spend, not only on advertising but also on campaigns to pressure doctors to push their products, it seems like they shouldn't need taxpayer money to fund their research.

Imagine the impact if drug companies had less money to spend on product promotion because they had to fully fund their own research. Maybe news outlets and physicians would no longer be afraid to do honest investigations into the safety and efficacy of their products.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/09/study-planned-budget-cuts-would-hurt-drug-development-badly/