<i>Instead of being paid the market price, pharma companies are paid the lowest-price they could absolutely tolerate.</i><p>Isn&#x27;t that the market price, then? Market price is the price at which trading happens——above and below that are prices which at least one of the parties doesn&#x27;t tolerate. And obviously volume discounts bring down the price in comparison to selling in smaller batches, this generally applies everywhere.<p>I don&#x27;t think any single company would sell at a lower price than what they can afford to ask. Note that part of the price can certainly be in goodwill, better public relations, or to win a bigger market share instead of cash. But that still is a net win for the seller, or they wouldn&#x27;t be selling.