a patient has the means or insurance to pay for it.

feed/water them enough and keep them from rotting, a human could last 30+ years and generate a huge revenue stream of state/federal funds.

First, the GOP and their evil minions are attacking science funding and basic research at the NIH and across academia, making the kind of ground-breaking research that is necessary to find cures and treatments more difficult to come up with in the first place.

Then, they provide corporate interests with tax breaks to enrich shareholders while encouraging further erosion of the basis for future drugs and cures. With no basic research and no new treatment or drug research from American companies, the countries that do not suffer from our current myopia will be well positioned to dominate the 21st century and beyond. Our 'leaders' have no grasp of history or appreciation for the facts that are clear to anyone willing to look closely at them.

I want to be free of this dark, deepening depression that has devoured my being since 08 November 2016...I do not know that I will have the inner strength to make it much longer, let alone until the end of this darkest night. I hope so, but hope is a candle in these gale force winds...utterly fragile and in constant peril.

I share your view.

As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at PFIZER INC, Ian Read made $16,989,764 in total compensation. Of this total $1,905,250 was received as a salary, $4,000,000 was received as a bonus, $6,628,412 was received in stock options, $3,984,592 was awarded as stock and $471,510 came from other types of compensation. This information is according to proxy statements filed for the 2016 fiscal year.

https://www1.salary.com/I-Read-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-PFIZER-INC.html

I would assume the money now available will go into the corruption pot that they use to pay off the more than willing political whores that we laughingly call congressmen. In turn they will receive favorable legislation and rake in even more money at the expense of the citizens of this country as we pick up the tab.

Not only to find disease relevant mechanisms and models, but also including, long, expensive, and often poorly powered clinical trials. This is probably a business decision more than anything from Pfizer. I've been in several research companies that have tried but had to shelve therapies for these two diseases.

What is really necessary for developments in these kinds of areas (like Alzheimers, osteoporosis, new antibiotics (where the return often doesn't justify the development expenses, etc.) are governments contests, challenges, and prizes. These kinds of initiatives work by highlighting a societal need, and setting up an incentive for a company to compete to discover them, with a guaranteed payoff for success.

There are examples of these kinds of incentives in the post war period, most won by Merck. A more recent example is

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/federal-prize-competition-seeks-innovative-ideas-combat-antimicrobial-resistance