People don't seem to understand how prohibitively expensive it is to develop new drugs and get them approved for use. Yeah, drug companies charge huge premiums,

People don't seem to understand how prohibitively expensive it is to develop new drugs and get them approved for use. Yeah, drug companies charge huge premiums, and they don't like generic versions of their product, but with a good reason: they spend huge amounts of money not just to make the drugs, but also to make the process more efficient, and before they even know whether a product will be successful, they spent a fortune on research and development. Take for example the case of Matuzumab, a medicine which was to be used against various forms of epidermal cancer. In 2007 a clinical trial failed and they had to give up on the idea. This company spent tens millions of dollars on the costs of this research, only for it to fail.