> Why?

Did you read this ?

> where billions are spent developing a drug and getting it approved

I'm not the parent, but I think patents for drugs are a good thing. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but the ease of copying them (once a chemical is known) combined with the cost of finding the drugs seem to fit very well with the spirit of patents, where new knowledge development is rewarded with a temporary monopoly.

I do grant that the practice of patenting small incremental changes to existing patented things ("this drug, with slower release!") does seem a bit questionable, but overall it still seems like a good thing. I'd be interested in hearing your argument for why it's not a good fit.

Do you understand why we have a patent system?