The crisis in financing is having a chilling effect on biomedical innovation. As discussed in my last column, the main problem in our industry is that the sheer cost of drug development has become almost prohibitively expensive, effectively pricing almost everyone but the largest companies out of the market.

 It’s time for policymakers to man up about the fact that the missions heaped upon the military are growing as they pour resources into handouts for bad mortgages, unemployment and other entitlements. Those who pay most dearly wear the uniform. They will not be able to keep it up much longer. And we won’t be the America we think we are anymore.

Since there is no demand for dangerous medicine, international action has a far greater chance of success than the war against narcotics.

US government foreign assistance health programs are currently focused on combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, which account for several million deaths each year across Africa. The United States should prioritize sustaining the hard-won gains in disease control, which requires focusing on programs with proven track records of success and addressing failures within those programs.

Leadership is a wonderful thing, but it is truly found when it is tested, and on that count malaria leadership has failed.

The Global Fund is to be commended for its transparency, but it has failed to act on the information it has gleaned, and continues to allow its funds to be used by governmental distribution systems known to be corrupt.

The private sector can and should play an important role in public health, but it remains to be seen whether or not the benefits that have arisen from the AMFm could have been achieved through alternative mechanisms and potentially at lower cost.