Is this the direction of health care? GlaxoSmithKline, a leading pharmaceutical company, says it will ask the British government to look into its product pipeline and give its opinion on what products should be developed next.

Why would Glaxo do something like this? Because the National Health Service is such a large purchaser of the company's products.

Today's Wall Street Journal has more (subscriber link), suggesting that this step is just the first: "Knowing the preferences of state health-care systems, which pay for the vast majority of all drugs sold in Europe, could make a big difference."

Novartis has already taken similar steps.

The actions of the companies are understandable. Any smart business wants to know what its customers want. But when the only, or even chief customer is government, health is put at risk.

How so? In brief, it concentrates economic and scientific energies in one organization, potentially shutting down progress that can come from having multiple sources of intellectual energy.