(This is not a direct response to your post, but I place it here as you put a market argument upfront)
But i just wanted to provide some perspective to that generaly over optimistic OP post. The fact that cancer drugs are created in the US is not a coincidence. It's an ecosystem where there is a lot of money to be made, and as we know it in IT, money drives innovation.
The U.S. by no means has a monopoly on "cancer drugs".
But thanks, i didn't know that. Maybe the british and swiss R&D isn't in such a bad state as France.
If McDonald is too expensive for you, you can switch to Ramen.
If Insulin is too expensive for you, what do you switch to?
If Radiation therapy is too expensive, what 7do you switch to?
If Dialysis is too expensive for you, what do you switch to?
If psychiatric drugs (for bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia) are too expensive for you, you lose the ability to be part of society.
Totally unlike food, despite being non-emergency.
The moment you have patents on drugs (which you do), and a $400M cost-of-bringing-to-market independent of the resarch (which you do), it's not a free market. Totally unlike food.