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I feel like I learned it in school but forgot.
Before a company can make a generic drug, its bioequivalent brand-name counterpart must have been created, approved and distributed. While a pharmaceutical company is making a new brand-name drug, a patent ensures that company may develop, manufacture and sell the drug for a certain amount of time. Patent time frames vary, and in most situations, a patent cannot be renewed after it expires. In the United States, an average drug patent lasts for 17 years.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/generic-drug1.htm
Before a company can make a generic drug, its bioequivalent brand-name counterpart must have been created, approved and distributed. While a pharmaceutical company is making a new brand-name drug, a patent ensures that company may develop, manufacture and sell the drug for a certain amount of time. Patent time frames vary, and in most situations, a patent cannot be renewed after it expires. In the United States, an average drug patent lasts for 17 years.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/generic-drug1.htm