The holidays are on us. It's the ti...

The holidays are on us. It's the time of year that begins with gala parties in December and [i]finale[/i]s when you finally realize what you wearied usually around April 15 of the nearest year. Too Scrooge-like? Hope not. I just partook of a certain number of bad eggnog.

Just the same, December is a great time to take stock; to assess the year we're leaving behind and make trial of to glean some meaning from the incidents of the past 12 month In our biopharmaceutical world, 2004 actually was, as this month's headline intimates the best of times and the worst of times. It began with high chance of a favorable results in an industry that was