The healthcare industry is based on a history of small molecule therapeutics, but, today, the industry#8217;s potential is considered by many to lie in biologics, although the majority of therapeutic drug sales are still for small molecules. Most of big pharma#8217;s adoption of biological technologies can at best be described as #8216;belated#8217;. The exception may be Roche, which can be considered to be the forerunner of the movement. Thanks to its foresight in investing in Genentech in 1990, it now bears one of the industry#8217;s most promising biologics pipelines. In this article, we take a look at the three companies that have the most ground to make up in the great biologics race #8211; Pfizer, Novartis and AstraZeneca #8211; and examine the deal making tactics that they are employing to play catch-up.