ABSTRACT
It is worth reflecting on some historical features of the pharmaceutical industry. The predecessors of several of today’s major players were companies operating in related fields, typically industrial chemicals, retail healthcare, or foods. While theremay have been some technical synergies, themarket for prescription pharmaceuticals has developed in a completely different way to the markets for products from the original core businesses, and few would dispute that the pharmaceuticals industry has, in general, offered a greater value to shareholders. However, without the sponsorship, often over periods of decades, of these less-glamorous parent companies, many of the names that we today associate exclusively with pharmaceuticals would not exist, let alone be among some of the most highly valued global businesses.
