> That's not the only thing broken with them. Patents on new drugs only last a few > years so companies scramble to hype and overcharge for them to try and make their > money back before they lose control. So you get overcharged. Then a few short years > later a talentless dickhole can legally steal the formula.
I don't think that's really true. Drug patents last 20 years, which is plenty long enough. Additionally, before the patent expires, they can make minor changes to the drug, like making a "time release" version, slightly changing the formula, or mixing it with a complementary drug in the same capsule and then re-patenting it.
The primary reason that drugs are so expensive in the US is because they're dirt cheap everywhere else in the world. The US is subsidizing medicine for the rest of the world.