it was park davis' bestseller at the time. as its pat tent was about to expire newspapers began to report what's going to happen when this drug patent expires andgeneric competition begins? all of them had the same amount of the ingredient in each capsule, and yet some of them had the same amount in a capsule when it actually came out the other end of the human volunteer. which is to say molecularly these two drugs were the same but if the capsule made it all the way through the digestic track without any of that drug being absorbed, well, then the drug was not actually the same. so there was something else at stake. and it turned out the amount of shellac that was put on the capsule differed the starches and binders differed and that affected whether it actually worked in the human body. so what became fascinating to me in the course of researching this story is that the way that we know two drugs are the same can never just be reduced to a molecule alone. and part of the history of how generic drugs emerge as a market and em

something like pfizer, parke-davis, they're effectively the same drugs.they guaranteed to make they are drugs at the cleanup or type them responsibly. they would tell you what was in a bottle. so it became very important. and it wasn't really until later on in the 20th century that the american system of pharmaceutical develops in a way in which the research laboratory of the concern in the patent becomes important as a way for companies to protect his molecule. someone molecule will be available for one pharmaceutical house underwent brand-name. the emergence of the generic drug industry happens after the pharmaceuticals amid 20th century. we start taking these concerns and opening up the competition. >> a patent laws. what are the patent laws with regard to drugs? in the protection to 20 years and during that time, part of the bargain is made is the innovator discloses the findings. it's not kept secret, but they are granted a monopoly as a reward for the innovation and the public. they generate the very certain kind of monopoly. in the pharmaceutical c