Political Economics of Drug Research

I think this post is going to sound remarkably similar to my previous post on multivitamins.  But this one has an economic dimension as well.  An interview on Science Friday described a meta-analysis of all the studies that have looked at the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.  What he found was that 2 out of three years, they create a flu vaccine that is effective, but one out of three the vaccine is not a match so it provides no protection.  In those 2 out of three years when it is a match, it is effective on about 60% of the people.  But only half the population would get the flu in any given year just by chance.  So the flu vaccine actually helps 67%*60%*50% or about one out of every five people who get the vaccine.  This is not that great.

But, it is very safe, cheap (even without insurance) and convenient (you can get them at Walgreens, CVS, your Drs’ office, at work, at school, everywhere). So most people get the vaccine.  Why not? When it is this easy and cheap, even 20% is better than nothing.  But this means that the drug companies that make and sell the vaccine already make the maximum profit they can get.  The researcher being interviewed thought it wouldn’t be that hard to invent a better vaccine.  But no one is willing to spend any money on it.  The drug companies wouldn’t gain anything, the government doesn’t care that much because everyone seems happy with the status quo and few people die from the flu, and drug research and approval is way too expensive for even a passionate scientist to fund him or herself. 

So, even though the current vaccine only helps one out of five people and it wouldn’t be that hard to make a better one, no one ever will.  That is the unfortunate reality of drug research in 2011.  But then again, I can always take a multi-vitamin !!!