Yes. it's very,very difficult, expensive, and takes a long time to develop drugs. Though I still don't believe a hard problem justifies those sale prices. R&D

Yes. it's very,very difficult, expensive, and takes a long time to develop drugs. Though I still don't believe a hard problem justifies those sale prices. R&D is expensive but what % of the pharma company income goes to it? Let's take the largest one Pfizer: ~9 billion total out of 67 billion income in FY11. Even for medical expenses it's not that much of a COST. A Top of the line MRI machine costs 1 to 3 mil Usd. Let's say a hospital scans 5 to 10 people a day. The machine pays itself in 2 to 4 months at that 3K pricepoint. Drugs also don't have to be made in the US and go through the whole FDA loop jumping. What I'm saying is pricing seem very wrong to me. There's people with deseases all around the world and supply of drugs is being limited to a very slim percentage of people from 1st world countries due to pricing, because there's people willing to pay those price. Maybe if these cheap drugs companies get to be some sort of "the walmart of pharmaceuticals". Earning way more than current pharmas on mass sales rather than steep prices might turn the balance.