Januvia: Defining Primary-Care Success and Risk

Januvia's fast development and successful launch exemplifies Merck's new biomarker-based R&D operation and its focused "one Merck" strategy. But the drug also provides an ideal case study of why doing everything right in primary care brings with it extraordinary risks: the key elements of Januvia's success -- blazing speed through development and the extraordinary safety profile on which its commercial triumph depends -- also define its most dangerous commercial liabilities.