The best alternative is really quite simple: public funding for lifesaving medicines. This model also works for the provision of medical care and is used throughout the entire developed world, with one exception.
As far as I know, this is not true anywhere in the world. What drugs out there have had their development and trials fully (or majority) funded by governments, either in Europe or---apropos here---India?
Huge, huge amounts of drug discovery is funded by governments[0] around the world. Pharmaceutical companies step in to fund the trials after the promising results come out. A lot of the trials take place in India under ethically concerning conditions[1].
