The Urge to Merge
Graphic: Cathleen Heard SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome; Pfizer and Warner-Lambert; Pharmacia & Upjohn and Monsanto; PE Biosystems and Third Wave; Astra and Zeneca. In the last year, many top-tier biotech and pharmaceutical giants have reached definitive agreements to merge. The unions are touted as hostile or friendly, strategic or tactical, market driven, Machiavellian, culturally astute, even desperate. Competition has forced drug companies to up the ante for blockbuster development
Apr 2, 2000
Graphic: Cathleen Heard |
![]() |
"The drug industry has become a victim of its own success," says Kevin Lewis, an equities analyst for pharmaceutical and biotech with William Blair & Co., Chicago. "Just five years ago, companies like Merck and Pfizer were relying on their own internal R&D to develop...
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member?