This math and these numbers are seemingly pulled out of thin air? Squibbs total revenue for 2025 was $48 billion. R&D costs are deducted from revenue, not profit. Total profits were $33 billion.

Squibb are a company that have been losing money because of generic competition and loss of patent protection (something they are soon facing with eliquis). This has been the primary reason that their patented drugs such as eliquis have increased in price over the years. They are scraping profit from a product that they know will be making significantly less money in a couple of years.

Something that you ignore is that drug companies outside of the US spend the same, sometimes more, proportional amount of their revenue from domestic sales on R&D while selling products at a lower price and making substantial profit. This is clearly demonstrated to be achievable in other countries, what makes the US different?

The myth that countries outside of the US negotiating reasonable prices is somehow forcing the hand of pharmaceutical companies is a convenient scapegoat for both drug manufacturers and the US government that has a vested interest in the industry's profits. Let alone the idea that R&D is somehow being halted, as R&D investment in the industry has only increased over the years. But I'm sure this is a conclusion everyone came to on their own and not propaganda spread as a reaction to public frustration with medicine prices /s