Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[Steady_T]

Patents only provide the opportunity to sue. They don't provide protection unless a company is willing to sue to prevent another company from using the patented product or procedure.

Drug approvals provide exclusivity in the approved countries. That protection is stronger than a patent. The exclusivity also prevents a generic drug company from using the trial data from the approved company's trials to support the generic drug application, which means a generic drug company has to run a completely new trial.

Edison never made any money off of his light bulb patents because he spent so much money suing to enforce the patents. The same was true for the Wight brothers and their early patents on airplanes.

Drug companies tweak the drug formula or delivery system routinely to create new patent protections when the original patent expires. They can affords to sue other drug companies.

The patent issue you raise is much to do about nothing.