Yet again, I can't argue with your points. Generic drugs smuggled back into the US really will cut into profits.

There's a pragmatic concern here that we can't ignore forever: If too many people die because they can't afford expensive American drugs protected by intellectual property laws, nations are going to start pulling out of the IP treaties and openly engaging in piracy. That's as inevitable as generics undercutting profits--people won't just roll over and die out of respect for abstract property rights. Finding an equitable solution would be in the long term self-interest of the pharmaceutical companies.

--Robert