Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceuticals giant, is involved in two deals at the moment. Its $50 billion takeover of Alcon, an American eye-care firm, unveiled early this month, has been hogging the headlines. But its decision on January 12th to spend $24m to secure exclusive licences and options on drug-delivery technologies developed by Proteus Biomedical, a Cali-fornian start-up, may be just as important in the long run. It makes Novartis the biggest Pharmaceuticals firm to embrace "smart-pill" technology.
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