Xiangmin Cui's vision, in co-founding Pan Pacific Pharmaceuticals two years ago, was to combine his personal knowledge of traditional Chinese medicines with the scientific training he received both in China and at Stanford University. Pan Pacific's lead compound for rheumatoid arthritis has been successfully cloned and expressed, and shown to be identical in structure and activity to a naturally occurring molecule with potency against the disease.

Combine two smaller weak businesses and you get a big weak business, unless the merger brings out hidden assets. Can the latter happen to Upjohn & Pharmacia? Maybe, but the obstacles against it are significant.