Edit: I'm mostly retracting my original comment below, my argument is flawed. See my sibling comment. ---------------------------------------------------------

Edit: I'm mostly retracting my original comment below, my argument is flawed. See my sibling comment. ---------------------------------------------------------- Here is probably a better version of my argument: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7498742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7498742 Essentially, pharmaceutical clinical trials yield experimental results (new science), they are expensive (need incentive to take the risk), and any system that prevents execution of, or obfuscates the results of, the clinical trial phase is a threat to science. Maybe there is a better system than the patent system but it's the best system we have right now, given the alternatives. It could certainly be improved, maybe even replaced, but abolishing it wholesale is not a good idea.