Bupivacaine
Sold as EXPAREL · given by injection
Who owns it, and until when
Whichever date falls later is when other manufacturers may apply to sell copies. Price typically falls steeply within a year of that point, and with it any company's ability to recover the cost of new research on the molecule. That is when it becomes a candidate for the ledger on the first tab.
What it is being tested for
Who is paying for the research
Who funds the trials matters after protection lapses. Company-funded work usually stops once exclusivity ends; university, hospital and government-funded work does not, and is the research most likely to continue on this molecule afterwards.
The trials themselves
Expiry dates are what the patent holder has filed; litigation, paediatric extensions and settlements routinely move them, so read these as the earliest plausible date rather than a schedule. Not medical advice.
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