Big Pharma gives Oxy to kids, gets an extra six months of patent monopoly

Purdue Pharma is testing OxyContin on children six and up. Oxy's gonna go out of patent some day, and shut down Purdue's gravy train. But if they test it on kids — even it's never approved for use on kids! — the folks at the FDA will extend their patent by another six months. "Dr. Elliot Krane, director of pain management at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University" says "They are doing (the pediatric trial) for patent exclusivity, there's no doubt about it in my mind…. That's important for their bottom line." (via Techdirt)