I think talking about capitalism, or rather, "free market", in the context of drug production is laughable. Free markets, as conventionally defined, have two ch

I think talking about capitalism, or rather, "free market", in the context of drug production is laughable. Free markets, as conventionally defined, have two characteristics: 1. Producers and consumers are both equally informed 2. There are so many producers and so many consumers that no single producer or no single consumer is able to appreciably change the market price Neither of those assumptions hold with the the drug market. Drug makers are massively more informed about the benefits and side effects of their drugs than I am. And there aren't that many drug manufacturers - and ongoing mergers keep shrinking the pool. In reality, the drug market is a barely regulated oligopoly, where a few large players manipulate the price signal to coordinate behavior so that they can move in relative unison to screw over the consumer. It's just like oil companies or airlines.