3 Answers

I suppose you are referring to patents for drugs.  If so, it is 20 years from the date of filing.  Many factors can affect the druration of a patent.

Protection from what?

Thanks, 6dogs4us:  Yesterday's, July 27th, Wall Street Journal had a signed op-ed column, "A New Bargain for Drug Approvals."  It stated, in part, "We (the FDA?) grant drug companies lucrative profits through government protected 20-year monopolies on their discoveries."

I doubted that the time period was that long.  It appears the period of drug protected exclusivity by the government is five years based on the information in the FDA web link.  As an aside, trying to read the verbiage in the FDA site is like my miniature Schnauzer trying to read Mandarin, and he's pretty smart.  Thanks, Rambo6