Credit Woes Hit Pharma

The biggest pharmaceutical companies are least affected by the current credit crisis due to their strong balance sheets and hefty piles of cash, yet even they are finding debt is more expensive and harder to obtain. Big biotechs also have billions of dollars in cash and marketable securities. Smaller, development stage companies, however, are more fragile because their existence depends on their ability to raise money to fund their R&D.Specialty pharma falls in between big pharma and biotech: the group is vulnerable, but not as much as biotech. The lack of access to capital makes doing deals tougher and more expensive.