I worked for doctors for years. I know what it costs. I've been involved in the clinical trials part of the approval process. I also know how much money they wasted courting doctors, paying for trips, and giving away stuff. The last 12 years I spent managing the finances on clinical studies. Canada does not pay what we pay here. The mindset is "let the American consumer pay."

Until we get the drug companies to quit spending so damned much on PR, we'll never get the prices of drugs down. As far as R&D goes, most of their ideas are stolen from universities who did studies on NIH grants. So we've already paid the piper. The drug companies then swoop in, bring the drugs to market (and yes, the clinical trials ARE expensive) and reap the profits which are exorbitant so they can pay for the next round of trips to Cancun for their reps and the docs. Well, I don't think they can do the international trips for docs any more, thank God. Do you have any idea how much pharmaceutical sales reps make? A boatload of money. I used to know the exact annual salaries and they were exorbitant.