I mean, the scientists could not legally sell it to someone else. They're employed by the pharmaceutical company who owns their research.

But you're right, being the first company to beat HIV would be worth way more than whatever profits you're making off the drug. Same with cancer.

My Nurse Practitioner was telling me yesterday they are studying the right dosage to make it just 1 shot a year. So hopefully on the way when they figure that out

Of course they don’t

I don’t know that either, but for other drugs that can prevent hiv infections, it’s much more frequent. Like weekly, or daily.

What's shitty is that this drug could damn near wipe out HIV if it were accessible to everyone who needed it.

But I guess we can't have that.

Nearly nobody will pay sticker price though. They have to set an absolute bullshit price, so the Pharmacy Benefit Managers can "negotiate" a huge "discount" (=real price) to show how much savings and value they create.

It's the same with costs for Hospitals in the US (huge Bullshit Sticker Price, insurance negotiates a "discount" for the employer, and gets a percentage for the service and savings they provide)