“…3,4 Actors besides pharmaceutical companies, such as universities, research institutions, and newly founded biotechnology firms, now play pivotal roles in the drug R&D process, especially in therapeutic strategies largely derived from biotechnological innovations. Large pharmaceutical companies have rebuilt borders to facilitate the R&D processes by strategically harnessing their external sources of innovation, including ideas, technologies, and R&D projects 5,6 that could not be generated internally, and have particularly intensified relationships with biotechnology. Biotechnology firms, which denote profit-seeking firms focusing on researching, developing, and commercializing biotechnologies, need certain resources to bring biotech-derived products to market, and are therefore involved in intricate relationships with pharmaceutical companies, universities, and research institutions.…”