In most poor countries the patents on the drugs that people need most have already expired.

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He is including a plethora of small short-term tax incentives, many of which have already expired.

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The patent protecting the active chemical in the drug has already expired, but a second patent, on using that chemical as a muscle relaxant, is valid until December 2021.

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But in Europe the patents have already expired.

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By the end of the year, the patents will have expired on 16 drugs--including allergy pill Allegra and cholesterol pill Pravachol, which have already expired, and Flonase and Biaxin, which could face generic competition by the fall.

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Its patent has already expired in Europe.

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Most of the million or so links exposed would already have expired, said Mr Jones.

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The weapons ban, which would update a similar 1994 law that expired a decade later, already has been dropped, though Reid, D-Nevada, has promised a floor vote on it as an amendment to the package.

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