The pharmaceutical industry has prepared for its fair share of adjustments – everything from drying pipelines, expiring patents, and an industry shift away from the traditional blockbuster focus – but the economic crisis might be accelerating what is already considered an industry-wide recession.

It seems a different company announces layoffs, plant closures, or budget cuts each week. Recent reports of cost-cutting efforts have included the loss of 1,000 sales jobs at GlaxoSmithKline, 1,000 at Schering-Plough, and 550 at Novartis, ...