The French subsidiary of GFK done the same

Do the accounts. Pfizer pays $ 68 billion to get their hands on his compatriot Wyeth. The Swiss rock adds a $ 46 billion extension to take total control of the California-based Genentech. Merck split $ 41 billion for letting his neighbour of the New Jersey Schering Plough. In total, 155 billion put on the table in financial crisis. The "Big Pharma" are not in need. The industry is familiar with these spectacular view, that once on two end evil.

The scenario always starts with a touching statement of love: "you're beautiful innovative molecules, you know." The story concludes with a proposal for a common life. "Come so stay with me." "My fridge is empty, but I have a large apartment and it will save on rent." Jeffrey Kindler, the pattern of Pfizer, recently summarized the supposed benefits of these defensive mega mergers thought past fashion. "The merger with Wyeth will save us $ 4 billion, about half on budgets for R & d." same refrain in Merck, table 3.5 billion savings.

Book of life

Pending the beneficial effect of these bindings, the pharmaceutical industry is faced with a seemingly insoluble problem: how to make the huge research budgets The top ten list inject every year between 2 and 5 billion euros in R & D (see table). "The research of the"Big Pharma"expenses was multiplied by 6 over the last twenty years." "The past year, the FDA approved just 24 new drugs, which is very unlikely", believes the President of France Biotech, Philippe Pouletty. In fact, and despite the advances of molecular biology, the world of the living appears more complicated than ever. The sequencing of the human genome, which was to open "the great book of the living" and provide "blockbusters shovel" proved be a gigantic black box without bottom. "Today, innovations are small hyper-spécialisées businesses." "General practitioners can no longer follow the advances of science", says the Director General of Chugaï France, Alain Clergeot. "Found the easiest simply to copy nature." "Now this becomes very complicated", said Philippe Pouletty. Result, the "Big Pharma" now seemed mired in land become very fluid where quantities are lining up new actors "come from nowhere". A PMI as Alnylam, specialist of the RNA interfering, and unknown five years ago, has signed development agreements with almost all pharmaceutical laboratories (read "Les Echos" of September 9, 2008).

Willy-nilly, manufacturers are forced to make a return to square one, i.e. fundamental research. Two examples illustrate this shift: AIDS and cancer. Last summer, Anthony Fauci, the pattern of the American Institute in charge of infectious diseases (Niaid), indicated to the Mexico City Summit on AIDS that hopes to develop a vaccine against HIV were now very distant. According to this expert, researchers should first of all understand how HIV was able to take control of the immune system. Implicitly, the American researcher recommended discontinuation of all trials of vaccines to the uncertain effectiveness in addition ethically highly questionable.

The situation of the cancer is similar. Despite undeniable progress, and the arrival of targeted molecules, the process that leads to benign to a cell remains generally misunderstood. The cascade of information exchange at the periphery and in the cellular machinery involves thousands of proteins and biochemical signals and modeling of the gas plant for now seems out of reach of the researchers. This complexity is obviously much more in the control tower where speak half of human genes: the brain. Recently, US researchers have highlighted the role of insulin in the central nervous system. The presence of this hormone explains correlations observed between Alzheimer's and diabetes. This unexpected runway paves the way for a new totally unpredictable track five years ago.

Return to the bench

This return to the bench of the industrial translates into a race to alliances with academic laboratories that has only just begun. In all countries, partnerships between the public and the private sector have the wind in its sails. In France, the Swiss Roche has just announce the launch of a network comprising fifteen institutional actors: TMF, institut Curie, St. Louis hospital, Léon Bérard Center... (read below). The French subsidiary of GFK done the same. At the same time, these two manufacturers want to show their parent companies based in Basel and London that French medical research is attractive. "At the end of the year, we are ready to welcome researchers and a"spin off"from public research in our Center of les Ulis," says Hervé Gisserot, CEO of GSK France.

Little by little, the new research landscape unfolds. Under the attentive eye of manufacturers of medical devices such as General Electric or Medtronic, waiting patiently the opportunity to enter the dance. Medical imaging to see cancer cells. From detection to elimination, there is nothing that these specialists will cross sooner or later. "Pharmacy industry should think in terms of therapy and not in terms of drug more," suggests Philippe Pouletty. One thing is sure, all these major manoeuvres will not bring down the cost of health. "In the US, this budget will increase from 16 to 30 by 2050." Health is a property of a superior nature. "This is not as flat screens", concludes economist Elie Cohen health.