The Pursuit of Profit Spurs Great Achievement
April 18, 2005

IRVINE, CA--The death last week of Maurice Hilleman sparked a round of appropriately admiring obituaries in the major newspapers, including a Los Angeles Times report that lauded him as a "vaccine developer who may have saved more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century." In an extraordinarily productive career, Hilleman and his assistants developed dozens of vaccines, including those for measles, mumps, chicken pox, and hepatitis A and B. His measles vaccine alone is credited with saving 1 million lives annually since its introduction 40 years ago.

As Dr. Hilleman receives the admiration he had so abundantly earned, it is also important to identify the vital role of his employer, Merck Pharmaceuticals--noted Dr. Andrew Bernstein, a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.

Most of Hilleman's accomplishments were achieved as an employee of Merck, the profit-driven pharmaceutical giant which provided the capital--laboratory equipment, research staff, etc.--to undertake such long-range endeavors. "To the extent that socialized medicine is marginally effective," said Bernstein, "it is only because its doctors can deploy the medicines developed by individuals under capitalism."

Bernstein warned that in the United States' increasingly socialized system, vaccine makers are finding it harder and harder to make a profit, in large part because they cannot obtain patent protection and are forced to deal with only one "customer," the government. As a result, prominent firms like Pfizer have left the business. Will Merck be next? And what then will happen to the next Hilleman?

Bernstein concluded that the accomplishments of Hilleman and his Merck team "serve as an important reminder of why medical advances, like all aspects of progress, are products of capitalism, not socialism: capitalism alone embraces individual achievement, success and profit."

### ### ###

Dr. Andrew Bernstein is available for interviews. To interview Dr. Bernstein or book him for your show, please e-mail media@aynrand.org

For more articles by Andrew Bernstein, and his bio, click here.