My problem with this justification is pharmaceutical companies use it all the time to justify exorbitant price tags on life saving medication (and I think is very questionable how much of that is actually justified). And this isn't conspiratorial nonsense. This is a kind of criticism you hear on mainstream platforms like NPR. Just as an example there is a cure for Hepatitis C, which is amazing. I'm not anti-medication or anti-science. If we can cure an illness like that, that is a good thing. It is something we want to cure. But it like 80,000 dollars for the 12 week treatment (which was 95% effective). I think they have managed to find ways to bring that costs down, but I believe a lot of that is just shifting costs (pretty sure the manufacturer ultimately gets its 80,000). I get there is research cost, but I am very uncomfortable with the idea that we should not push back against companies charging these kinds of rates for curing serious diseases, and that we shouldn't be skeptical of a powerful industry that historically has profited off things like getting people to take unnecessary painkillers (and even lied about how safe and addictive those painkillers are). I've personally seen medications I've been on get suddenly jacked up in price by these kinds of companies and I don't think that is right. There was a
congressional report issued a few years ago that addressed a lot of these issues with things like price hikes and a practice called price hopping (where they make minor tweaks to an old formula to get new patents so they can keep prices high). Again, not saying people shouldn't take medications, vaccines, etc. But think there are a ton of reasons to not trust these companies or take what they say at face value.