Right—I just logged in to try to fix this, after realizing that if what I originally wrote were true, drugs would have net zero benefit.
(An additional complication is that approval of a good drug gives continued benefits indefinitely, while approval of a bad drug does not give continued costs—its badness is found out and it is taken off the market.)
A lot of this good drug stuff seems to be drugs that are taking a long time to pass, but eventually will. These can be compared simply with the bad drugs.
Right—I just logged in to try to fix this, after realizing that if what I originally wrote were true, drugs would have net zero benefit.
(An additional complication is that approval of a good drug gives continued benefits indefinitely, while approval of a bad drug does not give continued costs—its badness is found out and it is taken off the market.)
A lot of this good drug stuff seems to be drugs that are taking a long time to pass, but eventually will. These can be compared simply with the bad drugs.