If you're interested in exploring the consequences of this line of thought, check out the philosopher John Rawls. If you'd like, I can try to summarize what are quite nuanced arguments and conclusions, though you're best of reading his works directly. Michael Sandel (of Harvard fame) is the best living champion of his ideas, and his book "Justice" is thorough and approachable. Sandel also has an EdX course with the same name, and he covers John Rawls towards the end.
Rawls is my favorite philosopher on the topic of social justice, and I can't recommend him highly enough.
It's important to understand these prices in context of how much it costs to take a drug through FDA trials (~$1 billion), and the likelihood of success (~10%), combined with drugs that are recalled after they've gone through the whole process and are on the market. Given the costs, how much does a drug have to earn to have it make sense financially?
I work as a real estate analyst in Shanghai, and this same situation is playing out here. Like San Francisco, buying a 2 BR 1,000 sqft apartment in the city proper can cost upwards of US$1M (RMB 6M), though here the GDP per capita is only US$6,000 vs ~$42k in the US. Also, many Chinese feel to own a home before marriage, which is usually accomplished by pooling the savings of parents and grandparents, and assuming one will be in debt until the end of time.
Those that have apartments probably bought them 10-15 years ago, when the price was 10X less. They are, as you mentioned, asset rich, but it doesn't translate into any greater quality of life.
The good news is that the rental market is relatively cheap here. In real estate terms, the cap rate (annual rent / sales price) for buying an apartment is around 1.5-2%, compared to 5%+ even in places like SF.
The market here in China, and the general obsession with real estate, is a deep an interesting topic. The best summary I've found so far is the corresponding section in the book "In Line Behind a Billion People". It's expensive by ebook standards but well worth the time/money for those curious about China.
Rawls is my favorite philosopher on the topic of social justice, and I can't recommend him highly enough.