Greed is good: Let's give a group hug to big "pharma"

These days, the big pharmaceutical company is the favorite villain on the block. Yes, it is correct that they are sometimes over exuberant with their big DC lobbyists attempting to sway government to vaccinate everything that moves; however, they may also play a vitally important role in the future of our children. It’s obviously not the job of the pharmaceutical companies to be warm and fuzzy; rather, they exist to make lots of money for investors who take insane risks and often come up empty. In the oil industry, it’s called drilling a dry hole. In autism research, there are millions of dollars in dry holes. We want lots of incentives for drilling dry holes in autism research.

I’m not overly concerned about big pharma’s marketing techniques; I have no doubt that when an effective drug for autism is developed, they will not need to wine and dine to motivate those physicians to prescribe the magic bullet for their clients. Opportunities to get kids into clinical trials will go viral! Those of us who impatiently wait for the cure, whether from pharmacology or bio-technology, need to cheer on the risk-takers.

Universities may produce fine researchers; however, we can’t rely on university research alone to crack the autism code, since there is only a finite amount of research funding for autism from government and philanthropic sources. We need to tap into the free market in a big way, so that obscene profits can lead to the cure for autism as soon as possible.

The next time someone starts complaining about the “evil” drug companies, remind them that our children’s future is actually in their hands and we want them to become rich beyond their wildest imagination. When pointed in the right direction, greed may not only be good, it may be essential!