Not only the patent process, but the industry is being strangled by regulations. Even publishing trial results in peer reviewed journals has become more difficult over the last few years (industry=evil; academia=good).
Sadly, most of big pharma signed on with the health-care takeover.
Yeah. The dirty secret is that pharmaceuticals love the FDA requirements because it increases their costs which they pass on to the consumer and then make more money by justifying higher profits. A process only a failed med school student could love.