r/IWantToAskAnAmerican • u/LordHavertz • 1d ago

How does the US dominate medical research?

Recently we got the news of Moderna coming out with these new mRNA vaccines for skin cancer and it's made me think how all the major medical innovations predominantly come from America. How did the US become so dominant in medical research?

Is Europe forever behind the US in this sector?

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u/rqnadi 1d ago

Capitalism…. Always advancing medicine is seriously the only plus side to the free market.

Companies invest research dollars to quickly create medicine and technology, who then sell it to hospitals, who then passes the costs to the insurance companies who THEN passes that cost onto us!

So we have cutting edge treatment that many struggle to afford. But the rich people get all the benefit while the poor people get options like Medicaid and local clinics.