Richer fields elsewhere

The ten biggest drug makers spent more than $50bn on research and development in 2008. For the same amount, they could buy the entire US biotech industry save the five biggest companies. Given the returns on all that R&D money, it might be a better use of their cash. Big pharma’s labs are notoriously unproductive considering the resources thrown at them. Scientists simply seem to work better in small groups. Yet the inefficiencies are pretty staggering. The $50bn spent last year is close to fou...