Most patents are drag on the innovation

Quite. Things which can kill people if insufficient care is taken need to be regulated, simply because if they're not, sharp operators will exploit the fact that the man in the street knows little about the subject (inevitable: nobody can be an expert in everything), and will exploit their lack of knowledge to sell them things that will, sooner or later, kill them. They'll do that *even if they know it is lethal*.

We know this because we see it happening in countries where regulation of pharmaceutical sales is relatively unregulated. Heck, if it happens with *alcohol*, whose imbibing is never a life-or-death matter, and which is a heck of a lot easier to manufacture ("no open flames, keep the methanol out" being the only real human-safety rules), it sure as anything would happen with pharmaceuticals too.

Software routinely critical for life and limb needs regulation too, and is regulated (e.g. medical device software, avionics software).