One Reason Patent Protection Is Vitally Important to Pharmaceutical Firms

One reason patent protection is vitally important to pharmaceutical firms is that

A) successful new drugs are not profitable. If firms are not granted patents, many would go out of business and health care would be severely diminished.
B) the approval process for new drugs through the Therapeutic Goods Administration can take more than 10 years and is very costly. Patents enable firms to recover costs incurred during this process.
C) taxes on profits from drugs are very high; profits from patent protection enable firms to pay these taxes.
D) the high salaries pharmaceutical firms pay to scientists and doctors make their labour costs higher than for any other business. Profits from patents are needed to pay these labour costs.