Keep in mind that patents are taken out when the drug is submitted to the FDA for approval, which can take years. Thus, the patent holder may actually have only 7 or 8 years of real marketing time to recoup their costs.
BTW, I agree that pharmaceutical advertising is BS. The commercials give you a drug name and some pretty pictures, but generally don't even tell what the drug is for. A notable exception I saw a few days ago was something for vaginal dryness, shown at about 5:30 P.M.! You know, just about the time the kids fire up the telly for the evening.
I will agree with Maui that American consumers are subsidising costs globally due to price ceilings in the various socialist sewers around the world. But, with investment in pharmaceutical companies actually being multi-national in nature now, it would probably not be possible to withold shipment to those places that refuse to pay full price.