I don't know much about how the science industry works, only that a lot of medication/drugs are patented, so the suppliers make the money by being the guys who

I don't know much about how the science industry works, only that a lot of medication/drugs are patented, so the suppliers make the money by being the guys who can produce said drug, until the patent expires, then everything becomes cheap. Afterwhich they make a new drug and do the same thing?