Big Thinkers diverge

Since its first "Big Thinkers" review in 1998, and most recently at the beginning of 2009, BioCentury has chronicled big pharma's attempts to improve innovation and reinvent itself through blockbuster mergers and new business models (see BioCentury, Feb. 2, 2009).

Last week provided yet another declaration of strategic intent by three large pharmas - Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc and Eli Lilly and Co. But for at least two of the players, the deals look more like housekeeping than transformation...