It also gives Lilly a second brand that may be valuable when the patent runs out.

FORBES: Prozac To Fight PMS Under New Name

These developments make it even less likely that drug companies will be able to realize a profit on a drug before its patent runs out.

FORBES: Side Effects May Include

Launching Sarafem doesn't just allow Lilly to make more money off an existing compound before the patent runs out, although it certainly does that.

FORBES: Prozac To Fight PMS Under New Name

The antidepressant's patent runs out on Aug. 2, at which point you can bet generic drugmaker Barr Laboratories (nyse: BRL - news - people) of Pomona, N.

FORBES: Eli Lilly's Flowers Of The Mind

The patent on the fluoxetine hydrochloride, the compound formerly known only as Prozac, runs out next year, and the patent on the process used to make it runs out in 2003.

FORBES: Prozac To Fight PMS Under New Name

Shares in Zeneca, the British firm that makes the drug, initially rose but then fell when it became clear that Zeneca's patent on the drug has already run out in Europe and runs out in America in 2002.

ECONOMIST: Breathtaking