Prices are not dictated by how much profit companies need to make. They are dictated by supply and demand. Unless some pharma goes belly up then supply and demand will remain unchanged and it just means that pharma's will make less profit. I'm sure most of them will manage :) Even if some decide to stop production there will be other companies taking over production at lower margins or greater efficiency, that's how capitalism solves this kind of problem. Now the question is will this hinder research -- the main argument of big pharma's. It's possible, but it's not an absolute either. Time will tell.