Big pharma does not drive innovation – their evidence is industry propaganda

We want innovation, we want research and development to address many of the terrible illnesses which are afflicting the American people today, whether it is cancer or Alzheimer's or heart disease. But in instance after instance, what you find is that despite what they say, these companies put more money in stock buybacks and dividends to their shareholders than they do into research and development.

Even when you talk about what we refer to as “research and development,” the average person might assume that they're working on Alzheimer's or cancer. Sometimes they are, but often they’re not. They are also working on what we call “me-too” drugs, which are modest modifications of existing drugs so they can get a new patent to extend their monopoly. So it's not all that it seems to be.

The bottom line is, in the last year, 10 major pharmaceutical companies earned over $110 billion dollars in profit. Year after year these are some of the most profitable companies in America. So I don't accept the argument that they desperately need these high prices just for research and development.