The flaw in the system is that the true value of a drug is the impact it has on the health of the community, and of the people who make up the community, whereas the market test - what will make the most money in sales - bears virtually no relationship to this.

A drug which was cheap to producee and which cured a disease outright would be less profitable than one which held a disease at bay and needed to be taken for a long period.

A drug which cured a serious disease which mainly affected poor people would be less profitable than one which cured, or preferably maintained, a relatively mild disease which primarily affected rich people.