Increasingly, Gore is putting drug companies on his enemies list, along with HMOs, insurance companies, the National Rifle Association and Big Tobacco. Gore, who favors doubling the cancer research budget and supports government efforts to map the human genome and find an AIDS vaccine, does not seem to get the point that cures won't get to market unless drug companies can make a profit after they make huge research investments. Gore is making charges that U.S. drug prices are excessive even though a study ordered by President Clinton may be inconclusive on the subject.
Profit margins are secret.
ACT-UP activists are convinced their demonstrations led to Gore's policy switch. Gore's spokesmen counter that he needed no such inducement. His record suggests the spokesmen are right. Unfortunately, in Gore's mind drug companies are just profiteers, not lifesavers.