Big mergers have been the key feature of the stock market this year. This week, two global giants announced a merger that will create the world's biggest pharmaceutical company. The marriage of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham will produce a new company, to be called Glaxo SmithKline, with $25 billion in annual sales and a stock market capitalisation of $189 billion.

Analysts said the Glaxo SmithKline Beecham merger is a signal that the pharmaceutical giants are finally recognising that biotechnology is the future of medicine.

The latest merger is a chance for Glaxo to combine its expertise in diseases such as AIDS with SmithKline Beecham's aggressive efforts in pharmacogenomics, a science which attempts to tailor drugs to individuals. With their combined resources and capital, analysts say, the giants will be able to purchase the expensive computer equipment necessary to sequence DNA and compete in this field.