PhillyInc

The chief executive officers of two Philadelphia pharmaceutical giants -- J.P. Garnier at GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. and Richard T. Clark at Merck & Co. Inc. -- have cut a deal that may say something about their strategies. They say in a joint statement that Merck had sold to GSK the rights to one of its biggest early blockbusters, the statin Mevacor for high cholesterol. In its heyday, Mevacor enshrined Merck as King of Big Pharma. Later knocked from its perch, Merck sought permission to sell an over-the-counter Mevacor. But Merck didn't succeed (yet, notes Ed Silverman at Pharmalot) and Merck doesn't really do OTC. So passing the drug to GSK -- for undisclosed milestone and royaly payments -- could generate cash for Clark's R&D and lets J.P. keep growing his OTC empire despite the nay-sayers. Win-win, as they say, if the FDA goes along, that is.

- Thomas Ginsberg