Cost of developing new drugs may be lower than industry claims: trial

You can't compare running a clinical trial for a drug targeting a communicable disease in the developing world to trials for treatments of complex diseases in rich countries where you need serology, histopathology and radiological endpoints.

Worth noting as well that J&J have shut down their entire division in communicable diseases because it was so unprofitable for them.

(Source: I work in this industry)

Was it 'unprofitable' as in 'losing money', or 'unprofitable' as in 'not worth the time'? If it's the latter, I don't have enough information about the rest of J&J to draw any conclusions.

Financially, they are the same.

If you can make more money by not doing X, than doing X, it doesnt matter.

Financially, they are definitely not the same.

A company where revenue is 90% of expenses is in big trouble.

Another company that could make 120%, but is only making 110%, is doing fine.

More directly: If every division is profitable, there's not a great need to cut the less-profitable divisions. And if that division was doing something useful, it can be negative for the public if it's shut down entirely, so it's worth wondering how we could save these still-profitable endeavors.

> More directly: If every division is profitable, there's not a great need to cut the less-profitable divisions.

Opportunity cost.