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Private companies are interested in profitable science, not impactful science. In fact it can have negative impact: Discovering a way to extend intellectual property rights for an expiring patent, or a formulation that they can charge more for. Discovering a cheap cure for cancer wouldn't help profits.

And have their own internal politics - they want science that does not disrupt the VP/CEO's plans, or make the chief scientist look bad.



> Discovering a cheap cure for cancer wouldn't help profits.

Hence patents. The new Hep C treatments are hundreds of thousands of dollars cheaper than older treatments, but were still researched and developed.




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