When a drug loses patent protection, competition from cheaper generic products developed by competitors inevitably eats into these businesses.
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Such a medicine might clear plaque from the arteries and help extend the Lipitor franchise past 2011, when the big-selling drug loses patent protection.
Not only could the combination pill be a blockbuster in its own right, but it could preserve the Lipitor franchise for another decade after the drug loses patent protection, probably in 2010.
And this will be a one-time benefit: Cipro has been viewed as a liability by many, because the drug's patent protection will soon end.
Cholesterol-drug Zocor loses patent protection next year, and the painkiller Vioxx was withdrawn in September because it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Even if successful, prasugrel won't rival Plavix in time to make up for the losses Lilly faces when top seller Zyprexa, a schizophrenia drug, loses patent protection in 2011.
The drug giant is facing thousands of personal injury lawsuits related to its withdrawn pain pill Vioxx, and its cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor lost patent protection this summer, allowing cheap generics to eat away at its sales.
Expensive clinical trials that come just as a drug is losing its patent protection are a real problem for drugmakers.
But the drug will lose its patent protection in 2002, opening the market to copycat generic drugs sold at far lower prices.
Taxol, the mythic cancer drug, lost its patent protection last year.
In particular, Pfizer is dealing with pressure to come up with more successful new drugs as its big name cholesterol drug Lipitor loses its patent protection in 2011.
Pfizer ( PFE - news - people ) is dealing with pressure to come up with more successful new drugs as its big name cholesterol drug Lipitor loses its patent protection in 2011.
Moreover, its best-selling anti-allergy drug, Claritin, lost patent protection last year and the firm's various strategies to maintain market share have yet to show results.
Pfizer is making a big push to keep patients on Lipitor during the 180 days following the drug's loss of patent protection, when there will be few generic competitors available.
On Monday, India's Supreme court rejected the firm's appeal to get patent protection for the drug.
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This is the day that Zocor, the second-best selling drug in the country, loses patent protection, opening the way for cheaper generic versions--potentially saving consumers and health plans billions while cutting into sales for drugmaker Merck and rivals like Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
The fact that drug companies thrived in the past without patent protection is irrelevant.
WSJ: Should Patents on Pharmaceuticals Be Extended to Encourage Innovation?
Roche's second-biggest-selling drug, the antibiotic Rocephin, loses patent protection in 2005.
The drugmaker is suing for patent protection for its blockbuster impotency drug.
To make matters worse for New York-based Pfizer, the globe's largest drug maker, Zocor maker Merck will lose patent protection on the active ingredient in that pill next year, causing Zocor's price to plunge as it becomes a cheap generic.
If a drug company has shown us that they are willing to allow people to die once patents expire and the profit margin on a given drug decreases, is this company really deserving of future patent protection for their new drugs a protection that we, the people, provide them through our government?
When assessing the merits of a generic drug with a unique drug delivery technology, the most significant risk of course is patent protection.
Lilly loses patent protection on its top-seller, the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa, in 2011.
If a pharmaceutical company can make the case that a better or more advanced drug has not emerged in a given category, and that the drug in question is essential to saving lives, maybe we should extend patent protection on that basis.
Under U.S. law, the clock on patent protection--20 years--starts ticking at a drug's invention.
Zocor loses its patent protection in June 2006, an event that can slash a drug's revenue by 80%.
Although the blockbuster antibiotic Zithromax is losing patent protection, Pfizer plans to launch a single-dose version of the drug.
Even without Vioxx, Merck is expected to face real hardship as it loses patent protection next year on Zocor, its top-selling cholesterol-lowering drug.
Most important, without proper patent protection, biotech firms are unlikely to spend the huge sums needed to invent a drug in the first place, as European firms have shown.
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