Pharmaceuticals and Europe 1992: the dynamics of industrial change

Provides an analysis of the implications of 1992 on the European pharmaceutical industry and sets it within the wider restructuring of the industry. The creation of a single European pharmaceutical market will, however, be gradual and will often present conflicting tendencies. The response of the major drug companies to the period of rapid technological change associated with the development of biotechnology is assessed. Their financial power together with their control of key knowledge and information assets, in the form of R&D and sales and marketing networks, has been a central element in their survival and growth. It has been presented that the power of large firms in terms of control and vertical integration has shifted away from production to nonproduction assets. -Author