When two worlds collide — big pharma meets big tech

Yitzhak Peterburg, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ (NYSE: TEVA) last but one CEO, recently described the pharmaceutical industry as one of the last “traditional” industries, saying it was about to undergo “huge disruption.”

Dr Peterburg said that: "Part of our competitors are not only the Novartis of the world, and the other pharmas, but really the Amazons and Googles."

That claim might seem overblown, but as digital retailer Amazon weighs up becoming a pharmacist, and Californian behemoths Apple and Google invest vast sums in the healthcare space, it's clear that the pharmaceutical industry will in future do more and more business with, and to some degree compete with, Silicon Valley.