Questcor raised the price of an old drug from $40 to almost $40,000, and is accused of bribing doctors to prescribe it at that price. Mallinckrodt, which bought Questcor, now brings in a billion dollars a year from that drug.

Mallinckrodt expects to pay $15 million — 5 days' sales — to get off the hook for that accusation.

It is too easy for the individuals involved to avoid prosecution and punishment. But the root of this problem is that there is too much concentration, and insufficient competition, in making generic drugs for the US.

I suspect this has to do with the offshoring of most of that production.