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After a stormy courtship lasting two years, Britain’s two biggest drugs
companies have finally agreed to tie the knot and create the world’s largest
pharmaceuticals company. Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham plan to merge to
form Glaxo SmithKline, a monster with a research and development budget of
£2.4 billion. A key reason for the merger is to speed up the development
of new drugs by unravelling the genetic causes of diseases. Both companies say
that job losses are inevitable, but research staff aren’t expected to bear the
brunt.