The second decade was marginally better but, from about 2013, GSK was wholly eclipsed by AstraZeneca, which became the real model of a modern science-led pharma operation under Sir Pascal Soriot (still in post today). AZ hit its revenue targets every time and added a growth-enhancing injection of promising drugs from buzzy biotech firms. These days, AstraZeneca’s stock market value is more than twice that of GSK’s, an outcome nobody would have predicted at the turn of the century.