Cost of developing new drugs may be lower than industry claims: trial

Semaglutide retails for $17k USD/year in the US but costs only $60 to make. Perhaps it could be argued that the autoinjectors are "expensive", but not $17k/year and oral forms are coming online to make this item moot. In limited circumstances, excessive profits cross into the realm of price gouging and shouldn't be allowed by regulatory enforcement.

I've seen on-patent medications sell for $500 to over $4000 a month for a 30-day supply. Those same medications cost between $20 and $40 in sane countries, and none of them included autoinjectors, they were just simple pills for simple conditions.

It was also NIH research and money that lead to discovery of the drugs in the first place.