All of what you have said is very true. Trying to turn “big pharma” into the enemy/target is a waste of time in dealing with the real problem, which is actually not the cost of common drugs but the elaborate insurance stuff that goes on around them in order to get reimbursement. Every time I get a prescription - which is pretty rare, and it’s always for something common, like an antibiotic or decongestant - I receive a mass of paperwork from my insurer. I can’t even get it electronically and have to open this huge envelope that includes a chaos of disclaimers. Bureaucracy has probably inflated the cost of that medication at least 2 or 3 times.
It costs drug companies a lot to develop a drug, and some drugs will be expensive. They have to be. So don’t try to get the companies to charge less (since they already don’t charge a lot for the most useful things) but figure out how to pay for them in a way that keeps the new drug pipeline funded and open. And fund more research so that even rarer diseases can get treatment, since learning about those benefits all of us. But the companies can’t do it without the bucks.
Many of the older cheaper drugs work just fine, and usually have a lot less side effects. 1 thing I see that is most common in the newer drugs besides the Higher prices is the GI issues. Which then need another drug to treat that.
OA drugs ruined my Gastro Tract and cause a heart condition, and when the Cardio tried to find a Hypertension med, couldn’t find 1 that didn’t hit the GI tract worse than the OA drugs did.