Is the currently produced insulin by 'big pharma' as you term them, significantly different from the original formulation? If it is, then it cannot be termed a

Is the currently produced insulin by 'big pharma' as you term them, significantly different from the original formulation? If it is, then it cannot be termed abuse of the patent system. If it is not, then our current situation can be termed a side-effect of a broken patent system. Yet all that is orthogonal to the above poster. Even if pharmaceutical companies were only using the original formulation, they would still be entitled to make a profit under any capitalist mode of thought. Simply because something is required for life is no barrier to morally or economically, for allowing someone to profit from it. Granted, anything that is required for life will be tightly regulated by the government. For instance, I'd think its impossible for farmers to collude to withhold their produce and simply starve a country.