Agreed. People see conspiracies everywhere. Since I was a kid I've been hearing the same urban myths from different people who all "knew a guy who invented a new engine powered by water but the oil companies brought it from him and buried it". This guy must have had lots of mates because I must have heard this same story from 100 people in at least 3 different countries and all of them said it was a friend of theirs.
Today the story has been adapted for the pharmaceutical industry. At least a dozen times per week I hear some story in biotech threads here about how some big pharma company is going to snap up the little Aussie biotech on the cheap just to make sure the miracle drug (which is yet to be proven) never gets to market. Strangely after many years of hearing this not one of these companies have been acquired on the cheap or otherwise.
The simple fact is pharmaceuticals are difficult science with very heavy regulation since people tend to sue if they put chemicals into their body which kills them, unless they are illegal chemicals proven to kill in which case they are happy to take them. Every Biotech is looking for the holy grail that cures a disease and makes a huge amount of money. 90% of drugs never even make it to market. Of those that do most fall well short of a cure but if they help keep people alive longer or reduce symptoms then they can be marketed as such. Ask yourself where we would be without these quality of life drugs.
Like most industries big parma will charge an arm and a leg if they have the only drug to help a specific cohort. Then there is competition the prices them drop quickly. They aren't angels by a long shot but the conspiracy theories about them deliberately producing drugs so as not to cure people are just plain silly.
