Customized drugs are here. A pharmacy in Illinois makes drugs that the majors don't. They point the way forward for the tailoring of medicine to consumer needs and wants. Today, major drug company business models pursue the most lucrative new find. Especially something that can enjoy the protection of a patent, ie has high price protection.. That means inevitably sales are about mass; market, marketing, returns. Costs have been high to tool up, and then selling new formulations to the mass. So drug companies want new blockbusters to supercharge profits. New drugs  cost a lot. Worse, the number of formulations on sale are  restricted given the size of the market to funnel consumers to the mass approach.

OK so now they're starting to segment and trial. Pocket size throat sprays. Thin strips that melt in your mouth.Suppress. Theraflu. All efforts to reach consumers differently. To sell  more product. 

But what major drug companies haven't done is release commercially unused research to the general market, even though it may be an effective treatment for a small target market of consumers. Then, periodically, companies just pull  drugs off the market, despite effectiveness. Too little profit. Some drug ingredients and drugs just work better for some people than others. But they may not be available. And for whatever reason,  drugs may be available here, (the US) but not there (Canada). Or vice versa. Drugs are not a consumer focused business, despite what the companies say.

Now new business models are on the verge of overcoming the entrenched value of the distribution networks and big capital backing of the majors. A new business model for drugs links widely distributed and peer reviewed information, blogs;  internet distribution;  and groups of compounding pharmacists or small production run drug companies.  It's a new network that battles bigness and major's entrenchment. So each distribution and production element is necessary. And each was previously unavailable. Together they redress the balance towards consumers.

And, bring the shakeout value of competition into a now closed and sclerotic industry always erecting barriers to serve institutional profit over individual health.