The left wing is in bed with much of big business.
They have a symbiotic relationship. Left wing affiliation gets the left wing off the back of any big business that humors them. They consequently have all sorts of save the earth, animals, vegetarians, etc., type stuff in their marketing. It’s the same as the Democratic party’s populist “give the people what they want” mentality. If we’re so “for” the environment, green stuff, affirmative action, etc., then logically we’re not a “bad” company - we’re one of the “good” guys. They send the signal to the left wing and to government - “you just tell us what to do and we’ll do it and pass the costs along to our customers”.
Having big business behind their efforts tremendously helps the left wing, since no sane person who planned on working for an honest living would give them a dollar. Look at how wealthy liberals and downtown NYC corporate interests humored and facilitated OWS.
The last thing big business wants is to eliminate the need for their healthcare products without creating new markets and products. So a miracle cure is exactly what big business does not want. Such inventions go nowhere inside companies. Big business loves the idea of a product that does not cure something, but just alleviates some symptoms and allows the patient to live their whole life and keep paying for their symptom relief. Patented, of course, so prices can be set ridiculously high for a couple decades. This is all purported to help “defray the cost of research”, but most pharma spend as much in marketing as they do in research. With old pills going off patent, oftentimes the sales function (the guys and gals who constantly badger your doctor and seem to always be sitting in his office with a briefcase full of cups and calendars and propaganda) is outsourced to contract sales companies who specialize in lower per-call costs. The number of times the sales force can berate a given doctor per year is regulated by law, and companies put forth large efforts to keep track of their visits precisely to maximize their effect.
If there are any new miraculous cures, they would get to the market with or without the big pharma companies. What is preventing biotech drugs and practices like stem cell therapies from getting to market, is whether they work or not. So far, it most of the successful stem cell work as been with adult stem cells, not embryonic.