How Pharmaceutical Companies Stop Generics Being Made

After a patent has expired there should be very little a company can do to stop other companies from producing generic types of the same drug.

Companies however can invest a lot in developing new drugs to try and extend their exclusivity as long as they can in a process called ever greening.

They can in some instances, apply for a five year extension to their patent to cover the time they spend on developing and testing the drug and not actually producing and then selling it.

They may also apply for one hundred days exclusivity as the first company to apply and then be accepted in to produce a generic version of the original type drug.

There is an aggressive litigation against anyone that tries to produce a generic version in an attempt to dissuade him or her. This is very expensive but not as costly as the 80% or more price dip of their products that were caused by the other competition.

The most important method of ever greening is updating patents that claim some change in the product and successfully resetting the amount of time they have.

Drug companies also patent any thing possible about their drug like the color, size and shape. They even patent the form of compounds used to make it in order to make it hard for other companies to produce a generic drug like it.