the price of pharmaceuticals is set by the government. If the companies don't cooperate they cannot sell any drugs in that country. In this country the insurance companies set a limit on what they are going to pay for a prescription and anything over that will be paid for by the individual. There is a lot of innovation coming from foreign companies. They want US approval for their drugs but many drugs at this time have been approved elsewhere such as the EU and then they do several studies in the US to back up the data from the foreign studies and they get approval here. Since durg prices are not set in the US the companies in turn can charge whatever they feel the "market" will give them. I know this because I work in the Pharmaceutical industry on the R&D side.
One of many examples of this was the approval of oxaliplatin (a chemotherapy agent) made by Sanofi (now Sanofi Aventis). The drug had been approved in the EU for many years but it was not cost effective to do the clinical trials in the US. This drug is used for 1, 2 and 3 line treatment for colorectal cancer. When the company approached the FDA for approval a deal was made that they only needed one clinical trial in the US along with the EU data for the submission. We got oxaliplatin approved in less then 18 months as a third line agent. There were two additional trials started at the same time so they could get the drug approved 2nd and 1st line treatment of colorectal cancer. This was more for labeling since once the drug got approval as a 3rd line agent the drug could be used "off label" as a 2nd or 1st line treatment. It only took several more years to get the approval as a 2nd and 1st line agent. This has now become the standard rather than the exception.
You obviously don't know what you are talking about.
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