Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG ROG.VX +1.42% may have struck upon a strategy to deal with a problem that is making life difficult for other big pharmaceutical companies in Europe: the loss of patent protection.

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The industry is contending with a host of challenges, including lagging research-and-development productivity and deep price cuts in key markets and pending or ongoing patent expirations, which can significantly hurt sales as cheaper copycat products are released.

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