Over the past decade or so, the market for generic drugs has become, as research chemist Derek Lowe puts it, “more and more deranged.” Prices of boring old drugs, off patent for decades, have experienced the kind of breathtaking spikes and dizzying crashes that are usually reserved for exotic financial instruments. Only instead of some larval billionaire losing the keys to his Lamborghini, desperate patients are losing access to drugs they depend on.
In theory, generic markets should be the Walmart of the health-care world, where everything is dirt cheap and readily available. In practice, the makers of branded drugs often display a malevolent ingenuity at keeping generic competition at bay.