The knowledge-leveraging corporation in the neoliberalisation-financialisation nexus

Abstract

Before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the proprietary pharmaceutical sector to the attention of the lay public, scholars had constructed a rich body of knowledge covering almost all of its aspects. But this diverse literature displays a tendency to focus on specific practices, often unarticulated with each other and detached from the broader socio-economic-political context in which the sector operates. This article aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the radical transformations that have occurred in the sector in the context of the neoliberalisation-financialisation nexus. This vantage point enables us to grasp better the depth of these changes, especially the emergence of a new kind of corporation preoccupied predominantly with leveraging knowledge of two kinds: knowledge protected by state-backed legal (IP) titles, and that specific to orchestrating the various networks where most of research, development, and production now occurs.