This falls prey to a common misconception: drug companies do not price drugs in order to recoup the cost of r&d. R&d is a sunk cost, the pricing of the drug is determined by what the market will bear. Ability to cover r&d is important <i>before</i> beginning the development project- the company needs to believe that bn it will be able to price a drug in a way that is NPV positive, but when the drug is approved, pricing is based purely off of the laws of supply and demand.