BnB, big pharma has never returned much to the shareholder. See PFE over the last 2 decades.
Though, more importantly, your last statement is worth comment. The US currently has a system where it refuses to negotiate drug prices with pharma. As a result, US drug prices are insanely higher than abroad, where they do. In effect, the US subsidizes the world in pharma. The US pays to develop and validate drugs and then foots almost all that cost while the rest of the world reaps the benefits.
In a perfect world (i.e. lock up the lobbyists for a few years) the US would enact law that Medicare, Medicaid, the Indian health systems, and the VA will use a drug price that's the average of what is charged to Canada, the EU, Australia, Japan, China, Russia, and whomever else makes a splash in this market. Then delay the law a few years to give big Pharma the opportunity to renegotiate with all those countries. That way we have a system that still rewards the research, but doesn't place all the burden on US consumers and govt. Watch US drug prices drop substantially.
It drives me nuts to the extent that we are being taken advantage of (our own doing due the the ACA, for the most part). We don't have to kill the golden goose to keep innovation here, we just need to level the playing field.