For years, the biopharma industry has justified U.S. prescription drug prices by pointing to the high cost of years-long R&D and the too-real risk of failure. But in the current paradigm, a hefty launch price, more often than not, seems to reflect the cost of acquisition and is couched in terms of "value." That point was driven home last week when Novartis AG announced that its newly approved gene therapy, Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec), would list at $2.1 million.