The numbers don’t support their argument that r&d expenses drive the prices, so they’ve shifted to saying that prices reflect the drugs “value”. Even on this, the numbers don’t really agree.

But to jump on to your main point — people don’t realize just how much their tax dollars have already paid for the development of these drugs.

Having a healthy competitive market to take these things the last mile is good — but these companies are incredibly deceptive when it comes to how much they’ve benefited from public investment.