Your Guide to the Year in Science: 2010
A deeper look at polar ice. An electric-car renaissance. The death and rebirth of major scientific experiments. Read on to discover what this year has in store Our annual sci-tech forecast looks at what 2010 has in store for medicine, space, aviation, the environment, technology and entertainment. Medicine Big pharma teeters on the edge of the patent cliff The end of patents on some of the biggest drugs means cheaper generics now but may mean fewer new drugs later So long, Lipitor. See you later, Advair. This year marks the beginning of the so-called patent cliff, when pharmaceutical companies lose exclusive patent rights to many of their top-selling brand-name drugs. Companies could cede $140 billion in sales by 2016 as cheap generic versions move onto the market. “The good news is that, at least in terms of the next 10 years, prescription-drug costs will probably decline or moderate for many consumers,” says Dan Carpenter, the...