During the past 10 years or more, the costs of prescription drugs seem to have taken on an enlarging life of their own.  Gone are the days of no co-pay. Today even co-pays seem outrageous, yet pharmaceutical drug companies keep raising their prices and we, the patients, are responsible for their bazillion dollar paychecks, whether or not we can afford the drugs we need.

I’ll confess that I have a totally unbalanced sense of awe and loathing for Big Pharma (the ...