Over the course of just seven days, we saw two biopharmas do cannonballs into the collective cultural pool with marketing efforts that just might impact the trajectory of the national conversation about medicine, science, and progress.

A conversation with former Pfizer research head John LaMattina about the persistence of the misperception that NIH invents the drugs that biopharma companies sell, the chance encounters that can lead to breakthroughs years or even decades later, and the tough math facing investors and heads of research across the industry when deciding whether to invest in a project that’ll only enjoy nine years of market exclusivity.