Discoveries of new drugs have led to significant improvements in health and longevity. None of this would have been possible if pharmaceutical companies hadn't had the incentive to carry out the research, development and testing necessary to bring these drugs onto the market. Estimates of the costs of developing and testing new drugs in the US range from $800 million to $2 billion and it can take anywhere from 12 to 15 years to bring a new drug onto the market. Given these figures, it is not surprising that drug developers want to have some guarantee that they will be able to be the exclusive providers so thatthey can recover their costs and maximize their profns. This is why patents are justified. In fact, pharmaceutical companies continually lobby governments to have increased patent protection for their products. As soon as the patent on a drug expires, other pharmaceutical companies can produce and sell their own version of the drug. These are commonly known as generic drugs or simply generics. A generic drug is exactly the same as its patented version in terms of dosage, safety, strength, intended use, risks and benefits. They are said to be "bio-equivalent". The producers of the generic drug can develop the drug while the brand-name drug is protected by its patent and release it as soon as the patent expires. Generic drugs are vastly less expensive than the brandname drugs quite simply because the pharmaceutical companies that produce the generic drug do not have the huge development and testing costs. The generics have to meet the country's health and safety standards, but it takes much less time and money than the original. With lower costs, they can charge lower prices. 

Drug companies spend a lot of money on advertising to try to make sure that the consumers of their drugs maintain brand loyalty. This is particularly important when a drug is facing its patent expiry. They hope that their consumers will stick with their drug even when cheaper generics are on the market. If the drug is a prescription drug, the pharmaceutical companies may find ways to convince doctors that they should keep prescribing the brand-name drugs. There are deep ethical issues involved in the question of patents on life-saving drugs. The fact that people die from preventable diseases because they cannot afford to buy the patented medicines, even though generic drugs may be made available at a fraction of the price, is currently under debate. 1. Use the information above to explain the possible advantages and disadvantages of pharmaceutical patents for the different stakeholders involved.