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I used to work for a compounding pharmacy supplier. They also teach you how to make patent-expired drugs.

From what I understand, drugs indeed cost a lot to bring to market. If I remember correctly, new drugs are usually granted a 20-year patent, after which anyone can produce a generic version.

We can debate whether 20 years is too long or too short for a pharmaceutical company to recoup costs and make a profit, but at least drug patents do eventually expire.




Patents are a lot fairer than copyright at least. Imagine if it took 100+ years for a drug to reach generic status?




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