> It's not a crutch. It's "we have textbook market failure A, which is alleviated by textbook government intervention B; we can remove the intervention, but we

> It's not a crutch. It's "we have textbook market failure A, which is alleviated by textbook government intervention B; we can remove the intervention, but we have to substitute one of the other textbook interventions suitable for addressing market failures." Oops. Of course. Thinking of patents as a form of government intervention enlarge the solution space. I was seeing a dichotomy (or spectrum) patent/no-patents, but I did not think about exploring other dimensions. > First, the FDA approval system is a major but not the biggest cost in getting a new drug to market. What are the biggest costs? Knowing that could determine the best course of action.