&gt;  They also have to worry about the political fallout of walking away from a deal when the government tries to blame them for the lack of a deal.<p>This is rare, but when it happens drug companies have no problem blaming the government for killing people.<p>See, for example, abraxane. This is a chemo used for pancreatic cancer. There are two other chemos currently used. Abraxane isn&#x27;t as good at extending life as the main med, and it has more side effects than the second.<p>So it&#x27;s not available under the cancer drugs fund.<p>Celgene (partially) fund a pancreaticcanceraction.org group to campaign to get abraxane re-instated as a treatment.  This involves them running misleading petitions (&quot;abraxae extends life by two years&quot; - celgene&#x27;s own data show a median extension of two months; &quot;the only pancreatic cancer drug&quot; - it&#x27;s the newest drug, but there are teo others, one of which extends life more, another has fewer side effects).<p>It&#x27;s pretty cynical to use dying people, and the relatives of dead and dying people, to campaign for your meds.