Trying to make this into an IP issue is bizarre. Most new, patented drugs are "me too" drugs that are just sufficiently different from existing drugs to achieve

Trying to make this into an IP issue is bizarre. Most new, patented drugs are "me too" drugs that are just sufficiently different from existing drugs to achieve the patent. Doesn't cost much in R&D. Occasionally you'll get advances here and there -- a lot of them funded by government grants, though. (Not sure if you want to count that as government innovation, when they're not government employees, or just government-funded innovation.) The biggest costs in bringing a new drug to the market aren't in R&D, but in gaining the FDA's approval (which is similarly arduous even in the "me too" drug cases) and in advertising. Here, a small snapshot of just one segment of the health industry: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/05/22/the-apa-meeting-a-photo-essay/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/05/22/the-apa-meeting-a-phot...