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Pacira Pharmaceuticals has been busy protecting Exparel from generic competition.  For the past few years, Pacira has launched multiple patent lawsuits against Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, along with its regulatory agent, eVenus Pharmaceutical Laboratories.  In December 2024, Pacira acquired a new patent and immediately commenced another patent suit against Jiangsu Hengrui.  The patent is U.S. Patent No. 12,156,940, and it will not expire until 2044.  It is the parent patent in a new family, and Pacira has already filed a follow-up application to the ‘940 patent, which suggests more patents are in the pipeline.  What is the ‘940 patent?  And how successful will it be for prolonging Pacira’s monopoly pricing for Exparel?