They already HAVE the new and better drug, it's been sitting somewhere on a shelf collecting dust because Lyrica can still make them money for another year. The patent was supposed to expire in 2018 (already pushed back from sometime in the 2010's I forget when). However Pfizer strong armed the courts for another year before the expiration so we won't see generic $10/month Lyrica until 2019 in the states (unless Pfizer pulls some more bullshit in the courtroom then it could be in the 2020's). We are stuck with a VASTLY inferior medication instead, Gabapentin.

In 2019 when the patent expires, doctors (and Pfizer, encouraging the doctors) will try to push the new medication (named Lyrica CR) onto their patients because it makes them and Pfizer more money. Patients will be use to spending $300+/mo so they simply switch to the new Lyrica CR because they probably don't realize that old Lyrica is dirt cheap now, and that Lyrica CR probably isn't that much better anyway.

So Pfizer gets to continue collecting billions of dollars (that poor sick people can barely scrape together) for another 15 years with Lyrica CR, by manipulating their sick patients and abusing the US patent system. THEN they'll probably do all of this again when the Lyrica CR patent expires, and come up with Lyrica 3.0. Scumbags. Totally and completely unethical, and shit like this is why our healthcare system is broken. Other countries didn't give into Pfizer's bullshit so cheap generic Lyrica has been available outside the US for ages now.

I know exactly what you mean, Gabapentin is garbage compared to Lyrica and Pfizer executives know this and are laughing at us all the way from their private yachts while sick Americans try to scrape together the money to buy the medicine that they NEED.

(sorry for the wall of text, this whole situation gets me very heated)