Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers are always in a tenuous position, because their business is always at risk due to patent cliffs: the point at which their products lose protection and must face direct competition.

The past several years have had some massive patent cliffs, and there are several more on the way, so host Tanvi Kumar and IBISWorld analyst Nick Masters took the opportunity to look at one case in particular: that of Invisalign and the new startups trying to encroach into its territory. Who's expected to come out on top, and what can other companies with coming patent expirations learn to prepare themselves?

As always, if you have a question you'd like us to answer on the show or a topic you'd like us to cover, shoot us an email at podcasts(at)ibisworld.com!