Restructurally sound: facing dwindling product pipelines and looming patent cliffs, nearly all of the world's major drugmakers have recently overhauled their research and development activities. Brendan Borrell asks what difference these efforts have made

In November 2004, Sanofi-Aventis thought it had the next blockbuster weight-loss drug. At the time, several of the French drugmaker's biggest hits, including the allergy pill Allegra and the insomnia [...]