It's important to realize that some drugs are very important, and we should get those on the market. However, they don't necessarily have to come on to the market at the prices that are being demanded by the drug companies. There's an independent organization in the United States that looks at the cost-effectiveness of medications and decides what is a reasonable price. When they looked at Trikafta for cystic fibrosis, their determination was that instead of the $300,000 price per year, it should be valued at about $80,000 per person per year.
The drug companies primarily are pricing drugs on the basis of desperation. How sick are you? How much are you willing to pay, or is your government willing to pay, for new medications so that you can be treated? That's the way they price. You won't get a company asking $300,000 for a drug that will reduce the symptoms of a common cold from seven days to two days, for instance, because nobody will pay that price. On the other hand, if you have a new cancer drug that you want to bring on the market and it will increase lifespan by three to six months, people are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for that kind of product. Drug companies know it and are taking advantage.