The vast majority of medical research is funded by NIH, not corporations. As for VCs funding research, don't be ridiculous. Research has a minimum 3-5 year time horizon (othewise it's called "developmnet") just to get a handle on the technology risks, and that's well beyond the scope of venture capital firms.
It would definitely be in the best interests of VCs making money to have taxpayers fund their risk. The recent ESC proposition in CA being an example. If they can get the NIH to fund the risk, that's a great deal for them. I have some investments I wouldn't mind having the taxpayers take the risk on too.
I worked for a startup medical company with a very smart CEO. He was able to get a couple rounds of financing out of some VCs, and he's now in charge of a successful, private company. Man do they hate him! LOL! I'm sure they'll get their money back some day. The company is about 11 years old.
VCs lose a lot of money on technology R&D. Why do they do it? Because it only takes one winner to make up for the losses.