Pat Grows Old and Loses His Patent

Pat's patent gave him 20 years of protection from being copied. But testing took up more than 10 years of that 20. Ten to 12 years of testing is about average for new medicines.

Once the patent time is up, other companies can make copies of Pat or generic versions. Even though we invented Pat, other drug companies can now copy him free of charge. In fact, we even give them our research to prove that Pat is safe and works well. The law says that they don't have to do the same kind of testing we did. Since they don't have our research costs, a generic copy of Pat can be sold for much less than the original Pat. They also don't have to take any risks. They already know that Pat helps many people.

Room for new and old medicines. It is good for us to have companies that invent new medicines as well as those that make copies of older medicines. The inventor companies like Pfizer will keep looking for new medicines and cures to help us all. The other companies can offer them at lower prices.

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