To nitpick, Pfizer, Merck et. al. don't actually do science. What they do is more akin to spraying buckshot into the bushes and hoping to hit a furry animal hiding somewhere inside.

Not that this is a particularly bad approach. It worked amazingly well for the last few decades and has churned out a lot of blockbuster drugs.

It is, however, starting to fall apart as all the low hanging fruit has been picked. It's time for the big pharma's to start doing science again. The problem is that big pharma is thoroughly infatuated with quarterly stock prices and not developing new drugs. They are cannibalizing themselves in an effort to keep stock prices up and profits growing.

It's better to think of big pharma as remarkably successful marketing engines, not medical science companies.

For instance, I know of many scientists that work for big pharma companies which do not have access to any of the scientific literature (past the freely available abstracts). Management will not allow them to purchase these articles.

Consider that for a moment. The companies producing your drugs are not even remotely up to speed on cutting edge biological knowledge.

*Obligatory "I'm in biology so I'm not making this stuff up" disclaimer.