In February 2006, Croatian pharmaceutical company PLIVA announced that it is to sell its Zagreb R&D unit to GlaxoSmithKline so that it can concentrate on the generics side of its business. Just days earlier, news had emerged that Pfizer is contemplating the sale of its Consumer Healthcare unit to counteract a poor financial year. Both events follow hot on the heels of other recent deals that involve large and small companies alike restructuring their businesses to meet the current industry climate. In this feature, we look at the significance of recent acquisition and divestment transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry as a whole, and what they mean to the future of the sector.