Most drug research is paid by the US taxpayer through research grants, not by private companies. Pharma company marketing budgets much exceed their drug research budgets.
Do you have a source for this? From what I can find, e.g., [1], the government only pays for about 1/3 of the costs. And the government funding is usually more for the underlying basic science and preliminary results, compared to the drug companies that develop drugs, test them and bring them to market. These last steps, which are ridiculously expensive, have not been a government area of expertise. (The same pattern holds for most any technology, the government supporting the basic research while more applied research and development is left to private companies.)
