The number of early-stage deals plummeted as large drug companies fought their way through mergers and other late-stage deals designed to boost near-term earnings. Drug companies also looked to mergers to build up sales forces and, by building bigger-selling products, to compensate for the lack of R&D productivity. Meanwhile, biotechs, with valuations at record levels, looked to find deals that would allow them to keep the upside of their products and move their share prices up.

E-health start-up RxCentric.com is offering online detailing to pharmaceutical companies as a partial alternative to building huge sales forces.