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IN A world where money is harder to come by, big pharma is beginning to rethink its relationship with much smaller companies – and academia. “Small companies have a culture that can be beneficial to [big pharma] in terms of product development,” says Joe Panetta, CEO of Biocom, the San Diego-based industry association which represents some 550 biotech companies in southern California. The giants are increasingly prepared to work with, and even buy, small firms.

Importantly, big pharma now realises that the small firms it has bought work best left to operate as independent…