Comment by daveguy

That's a fair criticism, although I've worked in both industry and research -- a lot more directed practical research to reach commercial viability happens in industry, whereas a lot of the fundamental research happens in academia. And as a sibling commented, a lot of unreproducible research comes out of academia. Also, there are spinoffs from academia regularly that allow the original researchers to profit directly from their efforts.

Still, that doesn't justify insurance companies siphoning off money for their shareholders. Especially in these cases where they own/control both the insurance company and the pharmaceutical distribution.