Furthermore, if South Africa can get away without honoring U.S. drug patents, then other developing nations will surely follow suit, reducing drug company profits even further. Pretty soon, the industry's profits will plummet. This will take away the money and incentive needed to support new research into life-saving drugs. In short, if the U.S. patent laws aren't enforced everywhere, the research process can grind to a halt. The domino theory on patent evasion may overstate the case somewhat, but the industry does have a valid point.
Patent protection makes research profitable.
If firms can't anticipate making a profit off of their research, they won't do it. While this argument would never justify policies that condemn millions of people to death, it does suggest that the issue of financing research and development needs further attention. The patent system is just one method of supporting pharmaceutical research. There are many reasons for believing that it is not a particularly good method. In fact, if the patent system for pharmaceuticals were a liberal anti-poverty program, it would be ridiculed in every introductory economics textbook in the country.