Commitments and Contingencies We and certain of our subsidiaries are subject to numerous contingencies arising in the ordinary course of business. For a discussion of our tax contingencies, see Note 5D. A. Legal Proceedings Our non-tax contingencies include, but are not limited to, the following:  Patent litigation, which typically involves challenges to the coverage and/or validity of patents on various products, processes or dosage forms. We are the plaintiff in the vast majority of these actions. An adverse outcome in actions in which we are the plaintiff could result in loss of patent protection for a drug, a significant loss of revenues from that drug or impairment of the value of associated assets.  Product liability and other product-related litigation, which can include personal injury, consumer, off-label promotion, securities, antitrust and breach of contract claims, among others, often involves highly complex issues relating to medical causation, label warnings and reliance on those warnings, scientific evidence and findings, actual, provable injury and other matters.  Commercial and other matters, which can include merger-related and product-pricing claims and environmental claims and proceedings, can involve complexities that will vary from matter to matter.  Government investigations, which often are related to the extensive regulation of pharmaceutical companies by national, state and local government agencies in the U.S. and in other countries. Certain of these contingencies could result in losses, including damages, fines and/or civil penalties, and/or criminal charges, which could be substantial. We believe that our claims and defenses in these matters are substantial, but litigation is inherently unpredictable and excessive verdicts do occur. We do not believe that any of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our financial position. However, we could incur judgments, enter into settlements or revise our expectations regarding the outcome of certain matters, and such developme