Biopharma execs predict a big spike in M&A deals

Marks & Clerk polled a broad segment of executives in the global biopharma industry and tapped into a strong belief that the pharma industry's looming patent cliff will drive a big round of biotech acquisitions over the next two years. A whopping 8 out of 10 executives among the group of 381 polled believe that Big Pharma does not have the internal R&D resources needed to overcome the approaching loss of revenue as blockbusters lose patent protection. And that figure is closely related...

Big Pharma tries to think like a biotech while reengineering R&D

Big Pharma companies know all too well that they have a big development problem. As Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter has said: "We're taking too long, spending too much and producing far too little. Re-powering pharmaceutical innovation is an urgent need." As a new feature in the Financial Times notes, the dilemma has led some of the world's biggest drug companies to do everything they can to act like a biotech company. That means trying to create an incentives-based, science-based, small...