The lucrative advantage of an area pharmaceutical company is being threatened by the very market forces it built its reputation on. Teva Pharmaceuticals, which runs its U.S. operations from Frazer and Chester County neighbor North Wales, may soon get a dose of its own medicine.

The world’s biggest generic drug manufacturer has recently enjoyed the profits of its wildly successful — and patented — multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. But with patent protection expired as of May, the doors are now open to fierce competition from other companies’ generic drugs.

Led by Copaxone, the company’s “specialty pharmaceuticals generated 42 percent of Teva’s revenues in the first three months of 2014 and 67 percent of the company’s operating income,” The Motley Fool reported this week. “… (Copaxone) was the single best-selling multiple sclerosis drug of 2013 with impressive revenues of $4.3 billion.”

A newly-patented, higher dose of the drug that is more convenient for MS patients “is now the only thing preventing Teva’s Copaxone brand from totally losing its market share in multiple sclerosis given its current price,” the article added.

Read more about the imminent prescription drug war enveloping Teva at The Motley Fool here.