Drugs usually have about 7 years on their patents before generics can hit the market. Since it costs sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D for one dr

Drugs usually have about 7 years on their patents before generics can hit the market. Since it costs sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D for one drug to hit the market, the patent period is extremely important. Particularly since the drug must clear the FDA and there is potential for recall.