It is a good marketing tool that the FDA has approved it, so I am quite sure they will make some inroads in the U.S. That is for sure.

It's still the beginning, and the beginning is when you have to be tough.

The jewels are the vaccines business and blood testing. There's nothing about Chiron that makes you say 'wow, we need to buy this for the pipeline.' The portfolio is rather lackluster compared to other biotechnology companies.

There may be one or two dollars more in the bid but I think the price does reflect the business. If they had a fantastic product in late-stage testing, you'd offer more but you don't make a spectacular bid for a company that's not spectacular.

The [drug-approval] system was tested in ways it was never tested before. In an era of mass marketing, where data may show uncertainty and where the FDA has no real authority to take action, this class of drugs was set up to fail.

The FDA did nothing to assure that the proper trials were conducted, but at the same time allowed mass-marketing campaigns with hundred of millions of dollars supporting direct-to-consumer advertising.