
To say this past year has been like no other is an understatement. But for the pharmaceutical industry, 2020 has been something of a defining moment.
After being in the crosshairs over pricing, drug companies were suddenly seen as lifeboats that could rescue the world from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sudden turn of events has cast the industry in a different light, but arguably, may not have changed its fortunes in the long run. The pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the debate over profits, innovation, and intellectual property rights on one side, and affordability and access on the other. And 2021 may prove to be a moment of reckoning for all concerned.
Unless and until the Republican Party admits that healthcare is a basic human right and not a privilege, little if anything will happen. Nice try, Ed.