Between 2013 and 2016 the FDA approved over 2000 new drugs. EVERY DAMN ONE was developed with public money and grants, not the companies that will profit from them. Even the government that financed them is not able to negotiate the price of what they effectively already paid for because that would be viewed by Americans as socialism.

By controlling licenses and patents the government makes sure that each drug will remain in control of a monopoly with no price controls except what the market will bear. The “market price” for drugs is effectively the price people will pay to stay alive. The system that we are told will bring the power of markets to products to improve their quality and deliver them at the lowest price has become the cash cow of politicians who are openly paid (campaign finance is a public record) for their protection racket.