All those billions of dollars - and that does not include the costs of side effects, both in dollar and in death and injury - for conditions that by and large could have been prevented or effectively treated safely and naturally at a tiny fraction of the cost.
As health authority Jon Barron says, "By the time the average male reaches 65 years of age, he takes a combination of 15 prescribed and over the counter drugs - and it all began with one or two conditions that could have been treated safely and effectively naturally."
Like our bodies, nature works synergistically where the sum is much greater than the total of the parts. Take something away, much less isolate or synthesize (shudder!) a single component, and you may lose both the effectiveness and the natural compatibility with our bodies. But plants are not patentable, and the FDA rules are set up where multi-compound drugs must have each single compound tested individually for safety (Phase 1 trials). Both are huge barriers to bringing nature into the mainstream use, particularly the last one.