Let me chime in as a biologist that thinks you've hit it right on the head. This is precisely the way to think about the large pharmaceutical companies: marketing companies. They've fired most of their scientists, instead buying positive research results from smaller companies, and market the hell out of the few compounds that have survived the clinical trial lottery.
More than that, the pharmas are absolutely resistant to embracing technology that can save them; they discard scientists that are driving their respective fields forward, and resist the notion that understanding the cell as an information system can provide better returns on their trials.
There are exceptions, when Genentech was run by Art Levinson (a scientist) he was capable of discerning science from bullshit and was an effective CEO. However, I would sell any stock in a pharmaceutical not run by a scientist; such a company may be able to post short-term returns but they're only doing that by selling off any possibility of future success.
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Let me chime in as a biologist that thinks you've hit it right on the head. This is precisely the way to think about the large pharmaceutical companies: marketing companies. They've fired most of their scientists, instead buying positive research results from smaller companies, and market the hell out of the few compounds that have survived the clinical trial lottery.
More than that, the pharmas are absolutely resistant to embracing technology that can save them; they discard scientists that are driving their respective fields forward, and resist the notion that understanding the cell as an information system can provide better returns on their trials.
There are exceptions, when Genentech was run by Art Levinson (a scientist) he was capable of discerning science from bullshit and was an effective CEO. However, I would sell any stock in a pharmaceutical not run by a scientist; such a company may be able to post short-term returns but they're only doing that by selling off any possibility of future success.