That wouldn't be an obstacle. Expensive drugs are profitable drugs; drug manufacturers love those. For example, the antiviral that cures hepatitis C costs $84k-168k for a course of treatment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofosbuvir
> In contrast, viral pathogens live inside our own cells and depend on our proteins for most of their needs, so they offer no such easy targets. And few natural antivirals exist, so scientists need to invent them from scratch, says Kathie Seley-Radtke, a medicinal chemist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
It's just harder to make effective ones. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-its-so-hard-t...
> In contrast, viral pathogens live inside our own cells and depend on our proteins for most of their needs, so they offer no such easy targets. And few natural antivirals exist, so scientists need to invent them from scratch, says Kathie Seley-Radtke, a medicinal chemist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.