In the end, patients either get the drugs or they don't. If pharmas set a certain pricing, the patients+insurers/Medicare feel the effect of that pricing, and

In the end, patients either get the drugs or they don't. If pharmas set a certain pricing, the patients+insurers/Medicare feel the effect of that pricing, and respond accordingly. Patients have no choice but to take the price, and demand that insurers provide coverage for all cancer drugs. Insurers then spread the costs across their pool of insurees, resulting in skyrocketing premiums. Did you know that Medicare isn't allowed to negotiate the prices of drugs, as part of regulatory concessions to pharma companies made in 2003?[1] What happens when Medicare (unlike other insurers) is forced to always pay what drug companies demand? Further, in the case of Gleevec, the basic drug molecule was discovered by a university researcher, who went to Novartis to get it to invest in trials. So the costs aren't even fully borne by Novartis. The system is broken and some possible solutions (proposed by researchers including those who discovered the drugs) should be evaluated. But strong lobbying from pharma is hard to get around. [1] ...the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act contains legislation that forbids Medicare from negotiating drug prices. These policies have created an opportunity for drug companies, rendering them the sole decision makers on the price of cancer drugs. http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2815%2900430-9/fulltext http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2815...