Most drugmakers are struggling to discover something new, but Shire has just about given up on research. Instead, Shire buys experimental drugs from others, puts them through human testing and sells them, The Wall Street Journal writes. The model has proved fairly successful - over the past five years, Shire’s revenue has more than doubled, to $2.4 billion last year.

Shire, which is probably best known for the Adderall XR pill for ADHD, is an extreme example of a trend under way in pharma. Drugmakers are relying more on smaller outside firms, such as biotechs, to conduct the risky research and move drugs through initial clinical testing before swooping in to buy the products, if not the entire company.

But Shire ceo Matt Emmens says ditching research reduces one of the biggest risks facing the industry - spending millions of dollars to discover drugs that wind up failing in human tests. “We didn’t want to discover drugs,” he tells the Journal. “We saw plenty of opportunity to grow with the creativity of others.” Of course, buying drugs from others isn’t cheap. Read more here to understand his thinking…