Patent protection in the pharmaceutical industry is different from protection in other sectors.The pharmaceutical industry relies on innovation to develop new medical treatments, but bringing a product to market is high risk and high cost. It can take between 10 and 15 years to develop a new medicine and according to a new study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, can cost as much as $2.56 billion.Once a new product has been developed, protecting intellectual property (IP) can also be costly. Every industry needs to evolve individual IP policies, management style and strategies, but patents and trademarks are critical for the pharmaceutical industry in particular.Patents help to protect companies from IP infringement and copycats looking to reproduce generic products at a low cost and high volume.http://bit.ly/2pIEMZO