To keep drug prices high, pharma has been piling up the patents
Add-on patents have increased drug patent periods from two years to over six. https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/to-keep-drug-prices-high-pharma-has-been-piling-up-the-patents/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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@arstechnica My mom died of leukemia when Cigna decided the drug she'd responded to was forbidden and the ineffective cheaper alternative was the only drug she was allowed.
It was as expensive as it was because not only was the drug patented but most of the manufacturing steps and technologies were too.
Hypothetically a generic form was legal but it was impossible to manufacture.
We're cooked. The rich people and the immortal corporations are the aristocrats running our lives.