Germany's Schering AG is betting it can crack the US market using a franchise of smaller products, rather than relying on a single blockbuster. It reckons this strategy--which few have used before--is best suited to its size and strengths.

Schering AG's purchase of Diatide Inc. appears to be an exception to the general rule that, while small-cap acquisitions are at an all-time high, the shareholders of acquired companies don't fare particularly well. Schering areed to pay a significant premium over the the Diatide stock price just prior to the deal, despite the fact that Nycomed Amersham PLC owns partial rights to Diatides two late-stage products. Schering was willing to pay the price because of its commitment to developing a franchise in nuclear imaging.

Structure-based design of small-molecule, non-toxic, angiogenesis inhibitor drugs for treating cancer