Another forum contributor has already posted what he considers...

Another forum contributor has already posted what he considers the problem to be. The scenario that he put forward was that if an item cost $10.00 and they put a 15% profit margin on the item they would make $1.50 profit. However, if the item now cost only $1.25 they would have to put a margin of 120% to achieve the same profit on the item that cost $1.25 as they achieved on the $10.00 item.

Such a margin would be regarded as price gouging and would be widely condemned. Whilst there is scope to increase a margin for a product that is cheaper, quicker and more efficient, going from 15% oncost to 120% oncost would be hard to justify. In addition some of the big pharmaceutical companies would have an interest in some of their suppliers and therefore would prefer the higher margins coming in for as long as possible.