It is hard to find a sector that suffered more in 2004 than Big Pharma.
Runaway healthcare costs became an issue in the US election. Seniors surpassed wayward teens as America's biggest drug lawbreakers, crossing over to Canada to get cheaper supplies. In September, Merck withdrew its arthritis drug Vioxx, which spawned lawsuits. Lurking beneath the headlines was Wall Street's worry that Big Pharma's pipeline of new drugs looked dry. The S&P 500 Pharmaceutical index fell 9.5 per cent for the year.
