It has been nearly 40 years since the Hatch-Waxman Act was enacted in 1984. Generics have developed tremendously during this period, which shows the importance of promoting the development of generics. The Hatch-Waxman Act is important, but it is not the whole story of how generics develop in the United States. After the promulgate of Hatch-Waxman Act, the development mechanism of generic drugs in the United States did not stick to the original state, but continuously made dynamic adjustments in many aspects, including combating misconduct in abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) to standardize the procedures, greatly improving the time efficiency for ANDA, establishing a generic drug replacement mechanism, establishing two patent invalidation procedures [inter parte review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR)], revising the Orange Book, exclusivity period, containment period, etc. to improve patent links system, and establishing a drug price negotiation system and a drug inflation penalty system. China should shorten the period of drug patent reexamination and invalidation examination. The first generic drug exclusivity period system should be coordinated with anti-monopoly. A user payment system should be established in China, but innovative drugs can be exempted. The drug approval and review mechanism, patent law, anti-monopoly law and other fields need to work together to continuously track and improve relevant systems.