The Incentive for Pushing Opioids: Patent Monopolies

It's probably too simple and obvious to be worth mentioning, but it seems none of the news coverage on the suits against opioid manufacturers say that the reason that companies like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson had so much incentive to push their drugs was that the government gave them patent monopolies that allowed them to sell their products for prices that were far above the free market level. While generic manufacturers also made money on opioids, the largest profits were made...