Patent cliff refers to a sharp drop in revenue that a company experiences when a lucrative patent expires。

Pantent cliff“专利悬崖”是指企业的收入在一项利润丰厚的专利收效后大幅度下降。

There is a simple explanation for most of the mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical world these days: the so-called Patent Cliff. Simply put, many of the drug industry’s biggest earners are about to lose their patent protections。

最近，制药行业内部兼并案不断，大部分可归结为一个原因：所谓的pantent cliff“专利悬崖”。简单地讲，就是许多制药行业的赢家将会失去的专利保护即将到期。

For example, Lilly is already facing the biggest "patent cliff" in the industry. Five of its six leading products face generic competition in the next four years. Barbara Ryan, a stock analyst with Deutsche Bank, said Lilly’s earnings will decline 35 percent by 2014 unless it makes one of the larger acquisitions it has historically resisted。

举个例子，美国制药巨贾礼来公司已经面临着业界最大的“专利悬崖”。它的六种主要产品由五种将在今后四年面临仿制药的竞争。据德意志银行的股票分析师芭芭拉瑞安说，礼来公司2014年的收入将减少35%，除非它改变想法，接纳较大规模的并购。

失去了专利保护，一部分制药厂商面临破产，而另一部分则可能转战仿制药市场。作为消费者的我们，有可能在此过程中买到廉价药，也有可能无药可买。无论哪种结果，还是先锻炼好身体，尽量不卖药。