There are lots of things, apparently, I do not understand about the economics of pharmaceuticals.
Here is a story from The New York Times about the American dwindling supplies of an anti-cancer drug for kids (We may run out completely in a matter of weeks, according to the article.).
A crucial medicine to treat childhood leukemia is in such short supply that hospitals across the country may exhaust their stores within the next two weeks, leaving hundreds and perhaps thousands of children at risk of dying from a largely curable disease, federal officials and cancer doctors say.
The drugs are wildly popular because, well, they seem to work. Their price has increased in some quarters “eightyfold.” Shouldn’t market forces dictate that such a drug would be amply produced and available to help children fight cancer?
Speaking Plainly 