Don't expect Merck CEO Ken Frazier to offer any apologies for the company's big R&D budget. "Science and innovation are in the DNA of the company," he told reporters for the Wall Street Journal. "The science will lead us to another big breakthrough." Sure, he adds, investors and analysts may throw a few "brickbats" in his direction as steep R&D costs bite into the bottom line, but that's a burden he's willing to bear. "I'm trying to run the company in a way that I can satisfy the short- and intermediate-term needs of investors without sacrificing really what we're about." Story