Creating Glaxo Wellcome

Executive Summary

Glaxo took over Wellcome to boost profits at risk from the Zantac patent expiration. But its R&D managers used the tumult and pain caused by the deal to revitalize an organization which had grown complacent and was ill-equipped to exploit the new technologies which were industrializing drug discovery. Productivity is way up--with no increase in budget. But has Glaxo Wellcome really accomplished its mission or is a continuing series of cost-squeezing mergers still inevitable?