Cash reserves may mean it's time for acquisitions for drugmakers

BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE • October 10, 2008 Pfizer Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co., flush with cash, are prowling for new products through acquisitions as the global credit crunch makes it harder for small biotechnology companies to finance their research. The world's biggest drugmakers can weather an economic decline because prescription drugs, which made $712 billion in sales last year according to IMS Health Inc., are covered by insurance. The companies also have reduced costs by cutting more than 100,000 jobs since 2002, including 14,000 at New York-based Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker. As a result, the top six drugmakers by sales will end the third quarter with cash and short-term investments of about $83 billion, or 32 percent more than a year earlier, according to their latest filings. About 40 percent... [read full story]