David HirschfeldFounder & CEO, Tekyz Inc. · Founder & CEO at Tekyz Corp | Software Startup Acceleration, AI Experts, Workflow Automation, Board

The challenge: medical breakthroughs are advancing fast—but costs are rising even faster.

13 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker argues that the American public shoulders an outsized share of pharmaceutical research and development costs, which is reflected in high drug prices. He cites the dramatic price increase of the EpiPen—from $100 to $1,200—as an example of price gouging, and points out that newly introduced GLP‑1 drugs are similarly expensive in the U.S. despite being available at much lower prices in other countries. The speaker suggests that this cost burden is unnecessary and highlights the disparity between U.S. drug pricing and international markets.

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I think the American public pays an ultra-high portion of the R&D for most medicals, most medications that are developed, regardless where they're made. I think we pick up that tab, and I don't think it's necessary. I mean, we first saw this hit us a couple of years ago with the EpiPen, where the EpiPen went from— $100 to $1,200. And in essence, that became— I called it gouging. But if the GLP-1 drugs are all brand new, they're all very expensive. You can actually buy the same medications in other countries significantly lower than what we pay.