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The highly competitive market has triggered several lawsuits, making them an integral part of the global generic drug business due to the high stakes involved.

A company like Ranbaxy spent about $20 million on cases of patent challenges last year.

Analysts feel that companies would not shy away from litigation because of the size of the gains in case of a win.

They said the patent portfolio of some of the traditional pharmaceutical companies indicate that their in-house technical competence is inadequate to meet the threat from global generic drug manufacturers such as Ranbaxy, which are fiercely targeting the large domain of off-patent drugs.

Analysts said in the new regime, several Indian companies have shown signs of a transition from being generic drug manufacturers to innovators.

These firms are also focusing on basic research in search for new molecules.

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