"conspiracy of the drug companies."
Funny you should bring that up. While there is no conspiracy as such, it hasn't escaped my notice that the current regulatory situation, which requires many millions of dollars to test and approve a drug for a particular application, does not exactly encourage the testing of cheap or generic medicines.
The hoops a drug maker has to pass through for the FDA actually DEMANDS that drugs be expensive, or the company goes broke. If someone worked out that dandelion greens cured cancer, who'd pay to officially approve it? We're probably fortunate that the rules are loose enough that people still have some choice in the matter.