> “As in the earlier run-up in drug spending, we’re largely uncritical of the price-value trade-off for drugs in the U.S.,” said Michelle Mello, a health law sc

> “As in the earlier run-up in drug spending, we’re largely uncritical of the price-value trade-off for drugs in the U.S.,” said Michelle Mello, a health law scholar at Stanford. “Though we pay high prices for some drugs of high value, we also pay high prices for drugs of little value. The U.S. stands virtually alone in this.” (emphasis added) There is much conflict of interest in modern promotion of patent medicines: Most of Ramadan's payments were related to two drugs, Janssen Pharmaceutical's Invega Sustenna and Otsuka's Abilify Maintena. Both are powerful schizophrenia drugs that are injected monthly, replacing a daily pill. They cost roughly $2,000 more than generic pill forms of the same drugs. - https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/18/629575118/medicaid-under-the-influence-how-drugmakers-sway-medication-options-for-patients https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/18/6295751... The most useful small-molecule drugs have mostly been figured out already. I wonder what the drug industry will do when all their patents expire...