The trial goes to the heart of the escalating controversy over how much patent protection pricey brand-name drugs should get.
Whereas China used to be the manufacturer, China is now also the brand and patent holder.
They spend brief periods of time innovating, and then milk a technology, brand, patent, or some combination therein for as long as they can get away with it (or in Moto's case, way longer).
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"If you thought the Feds had given up their efforts to dissuade brand-generic patent litigation settlements, think again, " writes Elliott Wilbur, a specialty pharmaceuticals analyst at CIBC World Markets who does not cover Bristol.
Once the patent expires, 80% of the brand name sales can vanish within a year as generic competitors reach the market.
Dr Zuma wants to promote generic instead of more expensive brand-named pills whose patent has expired and which can therefore be made locally.
Compared to the past few years, there will simply not be as many big-selling brand-name medicines losing patent protection, which means generic drugmakers cannot simply jumpstart growth by acquiring another generic drugmaker.
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Pfizer plans to leverage the brand value of Lipitor after the patent expiration.
According to the 2010 RBC Capital Markets study, when trial victories, settlements between drugmakers and dropped cases are combined, generic companies were able to bring their product to market before the brand-name drug's patent expired in 76 percent of the 371 drug patent suits decided from 2000 through 2009.
It also gives Lilly a second brand that may be valuable when the patent runs out.
Such lawsuits are strengthened if the brand-name drug company files a new patent covering, say, the colour of the pill bottle just before the main patent is about to expire.
That adds one more year that the brand owner can be selling on a 20-year patent.
The Graedons noted that while the active ingredient of the drug goes off patent, the pharmaceutical chemistry behind the extended delivery system may still be the intellectual property of the brand-name manufacturer.
Simply put, a brand-name drugmaker agrees to pay a settlement to a generic rival in exchange for ending patent litigation and launching a copycat medicine at a future date.
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But the high prices of many patent-protected drugs generate the revenues needed to underwrite the massive research and development expenses that the inventors of brand-name drugs incur.
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