I don’t have much experience with philanthropic R&D+patenting situations, but one potential reason for that would be to at least partially mitigate the investment costs, allowing the philanthropic investor to also invest the money in other fields. In this sense, even some modest degree of profit (~4%) might be socially optimal. However, it’s true that any investor in such a situation needs to consider the costs and benefits carefully—and especially in situations where, for example, someone else could contribute with manufacturing innovations to reduce manufacturing costs, I think such a philanthropic investor probably should discuss the situation with the manufacturer to get more information.
As to why it might be justified in some circumstances to make some profit:
Profit can be reinvested later/elsewhere to save other lives: Obviously, I don’t think “profit” in a purely selfish, monetary sense should take precedence over lives. However, a philanthropic investor may be able to turn some profit into life-saving (or otherwise beneficial) innovations in the future, in which case it’s not about money vs. lives, it’s about [money which may be used to save future lives] vs. saving lives right now.
Philanthropic-investment obligations: I think there are also a few investment situations/organizations that basically are semi-charitable, in that they tell investors something like “You shouldn’t invest in us if you want to make a serious profit, but we will try to break even while also maximizing wellbeing with your investment,” in which case it might be a matter of [breaking your promises to stakeholders which results in you getting less money that can be used to save future lives] vs. saving lives right now.
Ultimately, I think it’s important to evaluate things on a case-by-case basis, and I certainly am not categorically opposed to patents, and I believe that in some cases it might seem like the best thing to do would be to ignore IP/patent restrictions, but that would actually lead to long term harms which outweigh the short term gains.
I don’t have much experience with philanthropic R&D+patenting situations, but one potential reason for that would be to at least partially mitigate the investment costs, allowing the philanthropic investor to also invest the money in other fields. In this sense, even some modest degree of profit (~4%) might be socially optimal. However, it’s true that any investor in such a situation needs to consider the costs and benefits carefully—and especially in situations where, for example, someone else could contribute with manufacturing innovations to reduce manufacturing costs, I think such a philanthropic investor probably should discuss the situation with the manufacturer to get more information.
As to why it might be justified in some circumstances to make some profit:
Profit can be reinvested later/elsewhere to save other lives: Obviously, I don’t think “profit” in a purely selfish, monetary sense should take precedence over lives. However, a philanthropic investor may be able to turn some profit into life-saving (or otherwise beneficial) innovations in the future, in which case it’s not about money vs. lives, it’s about [money which may be used to save future lives] vs. saving lives right now.
Philanthropic-investment obligations: I think there are also a few investment situations/organizations that basically are semi-charitable, in that they tell investors something like “You shouldn’t invest in us if you want to make a serious profit, but we will try to break even while also maximizing wellbeing with your investment,” in which case it might be a matter of [breaking your promises to stakeholders which results in you getting less money that can be used to save future lives] vs. saving lives right now.
Ultimately, I think it’s important to evaluate things on a case-by-case basis, and I certainly am not categorically opposed to patents, and I believe that in some cases it might seem like the best thing to do would be to ignore IP/patent restrictions, but that would actually lead to long term harms which outweigh the short term gains.