Pharmaceutical Companies: Are They Overcharging?

There are many different takes on whether or not the pharmaceutical companies are over charging for their products. I will discuss both sides briefly and then give my final opinion.
For the pharmaceutical companies:
The pharmaceutical company's profit margins are not as high as some would have us believe. Compared to other industries marketing to the general public there percent of profit is much lower. For example Microsoft's profit as a percent in 2002 was 36.6 and Pixar's was about 44%. The leader in the pharmaceutical industry on percent net profit was Pfizer with a profit of about 28%, and the lowest of these was Bristol-Meyers-Squibb with a percent profit of about 12%. …