One of the biggest problems with patented drugs is that they take years to go through clinical trials with the FDA. The current backlog is over three years, leaving about 7-12 years for a company to profit off their patent. These clinical trials are funded by the companies who wish to bring the drug to market. Their reward for a successful clinical trial is market exclusivity for a few years. As a result, many drug companies will only pursue drugs that are patentable because they want to recoup their R&D costs and make a profit in a short period of time. I think there are a few ways to address this.

Part of the answer is to incentivize clinical trials for drugs that aren't patentable by providing public funding for those trials, which would disincentivize "patents or gtfo" behavior from pharmaceutical companies and encourage them to meet health care needs that aren't being addressed because the treatment cannot be patented. The FDA should no longer be prohibited from approving generic drugs inside of the 7-12 year window and they should be allowed to approve drugs even when a patent violation allegation has been made. Currently they can't even look into clinical trials as long as some lawyer files some paperwork. And, as the largest payer of drug costs in the United States, the government should not be statutorily prohibited from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. And, finally, if the US government provides any funding to support pharma research, the government agency providing the funding should be the patent holder.

None of these ideas are mine, of course. I just have an interest in pharma and have read a lot on this subject.