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Captain Sammitch said:
One thing that might help is to shorten the duration of exclusivity periods for different prescription drugs. As it stands now, pharmaceutical firms who win exclusivity have sole access to a particular drug for a period of ten to fifteen years from the beginning of that particular drug's research. During that time, no one can make a generic version of the drug, and pharmaceutical firms can charge whatever they can get away with for that particular drug. Shortening the exclusivity period would give you generic drugs sooner, and the only way pharmaceutical companies would be able to keep making the same profits would be to eventually start lowering prices to compensate through volume.