There’s much about the business of medicine that is praiseworthy and inspiring. From fighting superbugs, to trying to solve Alzheimer’s, to exploring our many microbes, there are a lot of big, important problems out there for drug companies to solve.

But medicine is big business and sometimes drug companies, in the pursuit of profits, pull shenanigans.

In this episode of “Signal,” we take a deep dive into some of the nefariously creative tricks drug companies use to maintain monopolies and handle competition. These tricks, often played around patents, can cost the health care system — and we the insurance premium payers and taxpayers — billions.

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Listen and learn a few of the questionable tricks of the trade. Meet the “hard switch,” “tricks are for kids,” and “pay for delay.”

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The podcast is produced by Jocelyn Gonzales.