I find this SO hard to believe. It just does not pass the bullshit test, you know?

How come the US spends zillions on drug research and then sells that research for pennies to everybody except themselves?

I mean the logical conclusion to me, is that the real value of this drug research is in fact much lower than the pharma industry pretends it to be, hence they can't sell it for such insane prices abroad as they can in the US where they control regulation.

Also, there is this comment which, if true, illustrates that point perfectly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20582411

Chicken and the egg question:

If this regulation in the US did not exist, would these drug companies and the medicines they've developed even exist?

Which came first the patent protections or the companies that depend on them?

In the case of orphan drugs, it's indisputable that it was the legal framework enabling profits that made orphan drug development possible.

ABPI - Association of the British pharmaceutical industry. That's not a source, that's propaganda, so we're back to the default: What has been brought up without proof can be dismissed without proof. One reason pharma R&D is higher in the US is that the general costs to bring a product to the US market are far higher than in other countries (e.g. the requirements of the FDA are costlier, see: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452302X1... )