What big pharma can learn from the makers of fast cars

BIG drugmakers, under pressure to streamline operations in the face of rising costs and slowing sales, are looking to the automotive industry for tips on tuning up their profit engines.

Cars and medicines may seem to have little in common but executives are starting to join the dots between the sectors, applying the lessons of “lean” car production systems and fragmented value chains to the world of pharmaceuticals.

It shows a new openness to outside ideas by Big Pharma.