The world is not going mad, it is just the definition of what is acceptable that changes. Thanks largely to the risky nature of developing complex new drugs from scratch, biotechnology stocks underperformed the broader Nasdaq for most of the past two years. Yet recently they have found favour as banks, brokers and insurance companies redefined what constitutes a risky bet. Then, while markets around the world panicked, pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly announced an agreement to pay $6.5bn for ImClone – a market value double that of June, before speculation of a buyer arose.

What Lilly gets for its cash is a share in the stream of royalties produced by the blockbuster cancer drug Erbitux. Plus it gets a selection of potentially saleable drugs, three of which should be in late stage development next year. But it is hard to see why, at this price, it is worth the effort.