Glaxo is conducting one of the industry's boldest experiments, changing the way it looks for new medicines to emulate biotech companies and spur innovation. The U.K.'s largest drugmaker has broken up research into competitive teams and put scientists back at the center of the process. But freedom carries a price: researchers who don't adapt must go.

Talent was "buried in the ocean" under the old system, says Moncef Slaoui, Glaxo's head of research and development and one of the architects of the overhaul. Scientists now "live or die with their project."

This month, London-based Glaxo completed the first appraisal of its new model. The company is now deciding which teams deserve more funding and which ones don't. The conclusions will probably be made public in February when Glaxo reports full-year earnings, according to Janet Morgan, a spokeswoman.

The transformation, three years in the making, is Glaxo's response to the biggest challenge facing pharmaceutical companies: a lack of innovation, which has curbed growth and forced mergers such as Pfizer Inc.'s $68 billion purchase of rival Wyeth in 2009.

Eoin Treacy's view GlaxoSmithKline has a relatively similar pattern to other well established pharmaceutical companies with solid cashflows and reliable dividends. The share yields 4.85% and has exhibited a saucering characteristic over the last 5 years. A sustained move below the August low near 1160p would be required to question medium-term scope for additional higher to lateral ranging.