What is an FDA patent, or how do FDA approval and patents interact?

There's no such thing as an "FDA patent" specifically; FDA approval and patent protection are separate processes that often run in parallel, with patent protection covering the invention itself and FDA clearance governing whether it can legally be marketed. Some regulatory pathways create specific legal links between patent status and approval timing, like Hatch-Waxman for drugs in the US, or supplementary protection certificates in Europe that extend pharmaceutical patent term to compensate for approval delays.