there’s another reason that drug companies charge such high prices: the monopoly granted by the patent is only temporary. Once you have received a patent, you generally have twenty years in which to market the product exclusively, though in practice it is often less time, because the patents tend to be issued before FDA approval. After the patent expires, any other company can make its own generic version and sell the drug at a cheaper price. You’ve made it easy for them to do so—by publishing the formula in exchange for your patent.
