A U.S. Patent

One of the biggest days in Pat's young life is the day he earns his "patent." A patent gives an inventor the right to be the only one to make and sell his or her invention for 20 years. A patent is a kind of "reward." An inventor is given a patent as a reward for the years of hard work, research, and testing that came before he or she finally discovered something useful. When Pat has a patent nobody can make copies of him except for his inventor.

Pat gets a patent when we think he might be able to help people. But he is still many years away from becoming a real medicine. Medicines like Pat spend the first half of their life being tested. These tests are to see if Pat is safe and will actually work to help people.

• Continue to Testing for Safety and Effectiveness