I disagree. Traditional drug firms have proven they're unable to adequately innovate with internal R&D due to large bureaucratic overhead. Additionally, old blo

I disagree. Traditional drug firms have proven they're unable to adequately innovate with internal R&D due to large bureaucratic overhead. Additionally, old blockbuster drug patents are rapidly expiring and these firms have nothing new to offer except for small iterations on the old drug (e.g. a small change in chemistry which offers no to very little additional benefit to the patient while securing a new patent for the firm). In short, competition is increasing and they're unable to make huge leaps forward in technology to stay ahead of the competition. Recognizing these facts, large firms have begun prospecting and betting on start-up companies who focus on rare diseases because this is a space where innovation has very little bureaucratic overhead and there is very little competition. Also, this is also a space in which the market size is small and where barriers to entry are high, reducing the threat of future competition. In fact, if big companies believe they have bought a company with a promising drug, they would prefer higher hurdles for FDA certification to reduce potential competition.