Actually no, in Germany the drug companies can't take any price, because the insurers are negotiating as one party with the drug companies. But yes, drug prices in Germany are relatively high. Why would private companies leave money on the table unless forced by regulation? They have to squeeze every profit they can out of the health care system.
The situation in Germany is way better than in the US, where these negotiations are a lot more favorable to the companies, because they can "negotiate" with individual insurance companies and even patients. But especially in the latter case, there's not a lot of "negotiation"...
Had also mentioned the negotiating part - but the history shows, that there isnÄt that much interest from the insurance companies to really keep prices low, as they are able to always get more money from their "clients" via our regulators.
So even here, where the system is probably better then in the US, it could be improved massively via regulation, without killing all profits or even the investments on R&D by the companies.
Sorry, but there is imho to little regulation going on here. The market seems rigged against patients - esp. patients with terminal (or at least grave) illnesses that are pretty wide spread. These people are hey are prone to be exploited and there are enough of them. Mostly pharma does not dev drugs for wide spread illnesses that mostly occur in poor countries for example. Or grave illnesses, that only affect very, very few people.
But dev a "new" cancer drug and you got your license to print money (lot of people get cancer, a lot is payed by insurance, and people and their loved ones want healing).
I'm missing your point. Most diseases is characterized that way - lots of people get them, healthcare paid by insurance, people want healing. Cancer is not special.
I think the argument for patents, as incentive for development, is quite strong. There is no alternative system in place yet.
Also you probably underestimate the value and purpose of pharmaceutical regulation. Most rules revolve around production quality, scientific soundness, safety monitoring and so on. Come to think of it, the degree of safety in pretty much any drug on the legal market is quite astounding, despite exceptions and accidents.
The situation in Germany is way better than in the US, where these negotiations are a lot more favorable to the companies, because they can "negotiate" with individual insurance companies and even patients. But especially in the latter case, there's not a lot of "negotiation"...