A growing, but ageing and increasingly obese population; a change in disease profiles brought about by economic growth and climate change; the globalisation of the market place - the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector faces challenges on a number of levels.

At the same time, the traditional business model is breaking down - the R&D pipeline of "big pharma" is becoming less productive. "There is an ever-rising bar to bringing products to market," says Janita Good, head of life sciences at law firm Osborne Clarke. The inescapable truth is that the industry "now spends far more on R&D and produces far fewer new molecules than it did 20 years ago", says a report from PwC, Pharma 2020: The Vision.