&quot;The cost&quot; is a gameable concept.<p>Also, this proposal means that while the patent is <i>not</i> expired, production is still monopolized.<p>And there is the issue of testing vs. research. There is an argument to be made that drug development isn&#x27;t the hard part (or at least not always).  The hard part is figuring out how to use the drug, and doing clinical trials to prove efficacy and safety.<p>E.g. we currently live in the wonky situation where there is little incentive to discover new uses for existing out-of-patent drugs.  It&#x27;s much more worthwhile to find a new drug that does the same thing.<p>I think patents-as-monopolies are a bad idea.  A citation-based subsidy and&#x2F;or fixed license fee, preferably on a decreasing schedule with a capped or only slowly growing integral would align motives with outcomes more clearly.<p>I mean, I don&#x27;t see the problem if research becomes independently specialized from exploitation.