Drug Industry Focuses on Profit, Not Health

Re “Perilous Bug Is Creeping Onto the Streets,” April 7: A few quotes tell why unmodified capitalism does not work. “Necrotizing fasciitis (‘flesh eating’ syndrome) is a terrible disease, but before now, Staph aureus was never the cause,” said Dr. Robert Daum, a pediatrics professor at the University of Chicago. “The problem is we are not developing new antibiotics as fast as we used to because there are very few monetary incentives for pharmaceutical companies to do that,” said Dr. Loren G. Miller, a researcher at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute.

Considering the focus of pharmaceutical companies at present, perhaps there will have to be an epidemic of rich white men catching the “flesh eating” syndrome before our government will consider nationalizing part of the drug industry.

Frederick Cleveland

Hollywood