@BunsenBurner :
I think the discussion has gone beyond generics (which if I recall correctly, they have to show that their formulation is identical to the brand name drug, and obviously have to certify as to quality of the products and so forth, so it is likely a lot cheaper to bring a generic to market). Whether drug companies are multi national or not doesn’t make a difference, while I know that for example countries in the EU subsidize research, give companies tax breaks for R and D and so forth, the problem is that countries outside the US put price limits on the drug prices and the US ends up subsidizing, not necessarily the research, but rather the profits, that the levels established overseas would not return a big profit, if one at all, so the companies price shift it onto the US consumer to make their profits. The difference in price between the US and other countries varies (and I am leaving out the Indian drug companies peddling probably illegal generics that have who knows what in them, talking name brand drugs through real pharmacies outside the US). Either that, or the outside the US prices are actually fair, guaranteed to return a nice rate of return, and the US is pure greed (I doubt it, the economist a number of years ago looked into it, and they basically said a lot of the differential was cost shifting).
I have also heard the usual suspects blaming the cost of meeting US regulatory practices, but the irony is that the European standards are generally a lot tougher than ours, both for prescription meds and for things like OTC supplements and the like, that is one of those claims that people accept as fact that is myth.