DRUG MERGERS GENERATE CONCERNS.(BUSINESS)

Byline: PHIL GALEWITZ Associated Press

NEW YORK -- As drug companies aggressively pursue mergers to reduce costs and boost profits, some fear that the new gargantuan combinations will stop developing important drugs that have only small sales potential.

Others say that research is getting so expensive, companies have no choice but to merge with rivals.

``Size confers different sets of advantages and disadvantages,'' said Joseph Zammit-Lucia, chief executive officer of Cambridge Pharma Consultancy of Cambridge, Mass.

The debate over whether drug mergers are good or bad for consumers is arising anew as Pfizer Inc. tries to break up …