Disruptions in the supply/demand configuration of generic drugs have plagued US health care for years. Picket Pharmaceuticals, a new start-up founded by a biostatistician veteran of Africa’s war on HIV, is using the illuminating powers of big data to stabilize the generics supply chain and find untapped areas of value among thousands of products in a business that remains a mystery to physicians, payers and patients alike.

The idea that public corporations have obligations that extend beyond the fiduciary responsibility to shareholders will be the dominant measure of responsible business behavior in the coming decade. Uncertainty about the extent of these commitments – commonly referenced as the environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda – has produced equally variable responses from companies in the health care business.

Bayer’s ambitious campaign to reposition itself as a global leader in two complementary fields – health and nutrition – will face its toughest test in the US, with its highly litigious approach to product liability and a tendency to target pharmaceuticals as the source of the health system’s affordability and access problems.