Drug prices in America are too high in many cases — I'll grant that up front. The frustration is legitimate, especially for people who need expensive medications to survive. But the narrative that pharmaceutical companies are simply greedy ignores the extraordinary cost and risk of drug development.

The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development estimates it costs an average of $2.6 billion to bring a single new drug to market. The process takes 10-15 years from discovery to FDA approval. And roughly 90% of drugs that enter clinical trials never make it to market. Companies must earn enough from their successes to cover all those failures, or they stop trying.

The results of this system are remarkable. American pharmaceutical companies develop more new drugs than the rest of the world combined. Of the 293 new molecular entities approved between 2011 and 2020, the majority originated in U.S.-based companies. These aren't just 'me too' drugs — they include breakthrough treatments for cancer, hepatitis C, rare diseases, and the COVID-19 vaccines developed in record time.

Price comparisons with other countries are misleading. Countries like Canada and the UK impose price controls on drugs largely developed with American investment. In effect, American consumers subsidize drug development for the world. If the U.S. imposed similar price controls, R&D investment would drop, and future cures would never be developed.

That said, there are legitimate reforms worth pursuing: faster FDA approval for generic drugs to increase competition, greater price transparency, reforming pharmacy benefit managers who take a cut that drives up retail prices, and allowing Medicare to negotiate prices within limits that don't destroy innovation incentives.

The answer is smarter regulation that preserves the profit motive for innovation while increasing competition and transparency — not demonizing the companies that produce life-saving treatments.