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)

I have heard from the same Industry people you work in that the pricing of the drug generally has nothing to do with the cost of the research or trials for that particular drug but instead just what the market will be willing to pay for it. There’s a reason humira has till ozempic been the most profitable drug - not because it was cheap to research but it was in the perfect niche where it can be charged an insane amount and a large population could pay for it.

Thanks for putting the disclaimer. But your argument is still not convincing that pharma industry has no fundamental moral backbone (a reason I left it after my PhD).