With all due respect, you don't have the slightest clue as to how markets work. At the end of the day, these goods are worth what people are willing to pay. If the sellers ask too much, they won't sell. If they were being valued objectively, they'd be worthless. It's easy to see with reasoning like this why there are people who think the government should just step in and dictate prices to make them 'fair'. As far as the epi-pen goes, pharma research is extremely risky, and most results in lost money, often to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. However, miraculous drugs have come as a result of all this speculation and risk taking, and the only way to encourage that, for the good of all, it to reward success if it's achieved. I don't see you willing to step in and cover the losses of failed projects. Unless of course your preferred Soviet style command economy can just "order" its scientists to make a breakthrough...