Goldman Sachs: Curing disease is bad for the Medical-Industrial Complex

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Recent advancements in science and medicine have put cures within reach for diseases that have long plagued humankind. In a recent report, though, Goldman Sachs analysts posed an uncomfortable question that quickly sparked criticism.

“Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” analysts asked in an April 10 report entitled “The Genome Revolution,” which CNBC first reported. One-and-done cures enabled by gene editing, analyst Salveen Richter wrote in the note to clients this week, are near-miraculous innovations that stand to benefit patients immensely.

But they also present a challenge to business. “While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow,” she wrote.

The trouble is, it’s hard to reap long-term profits when you’re actually curing the patients who would buy your treatment. The report points to Gilead’s treatments for hepatitis C, which cure more than 90 percent of patients. In 2015, at the height of sales, US sales of the drug hit $12.5 billion. But as people have been cured, sales have fallen. Goldman estimates US sales for Gilead’s hepatitis C treatments will be less than $4 billion this year.

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