Strategy execs advise Big Pharma

How might drugmakers navigate the rocky waters of generic competition, cautious regulators, safety scandals, globalization, and so on? Seek help with the itinerary from an expert, perhaps. At least six top U.S. drugmakers have done this, putting strategy gurus in top offices: Eli Lilly and Wyeth did so over a year ago; Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Merck brought in their strategy types within the past six months. These folks have been charged with everything from charting new business opportunities to supervising cost-cutting plans to getting company divisions to parley.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at this trend today. So far, it's too early to know how effective the strategy execs have been so far. Plus, the companies aren't exactly fulsome in their descriptions of what these folks are doing. But if they truly are looking with objective eyes at the pharma industry, they could nudge drugmakers to big changes in their business models. We'll see.

- check out the WSJ article
- see the WSJ Health Blog item

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