Yes they are making lots of money by killing their research pipeline and laying off their scientists. The reason they are doing this is they can't justify spend

Yes they are making lots of money by killing their research pipeline and laying off their scientists. The reason they are doing this is they can't justify spending the money given the returns on offer. I am no defender of pharma companies, but they are doing exactly what the economic incentives encourage them to do. We need to change the incentives, not just rant about high prices and greed. Edit. Yes I know that the US government is not allowed to negotiate with drug companies over pricing (it is a little more complex than this in practice), but even with pricing uncapped the profit margins don't justify them spending more on R&D. We agree on the problem, just disagree on the solution. You should also read the part two of the article you quoted [0]. Unfortunately all the solutions provided are little more than a sugar pill for the real problem - R&D costs. 0. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29659537 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29659537