[tptacek]

The second pill costs almost nothing to produce. The first pill costs billions, plural, and the successful minority of new drugs have to foot the bill for all the unsuccessful first pills.

[iqkznnft]

I'm talking about pills developed in the 50s, and which cost nothing to manufacture, and almost given away in most of the world except in the USA.

[hollerith]

Which pills developed in the 50s cost much more in the US than in the rest of the world?

[iqkznnft]

Ask Martin Shkreli.

[tptacek]

A cartoon villain, to be sure, and a legitimate target for public policy interventions, but pretty clearly not an indication of why US health care costs so much; he managed to price those drugs specifically because they were a corner-case for the pharma industry.