Last
year, the pandemic impacted everyone’s life in one way or the other. It turned
the limelight on to the pharmaceutical industry, which stepped up efforts to
deliver treatments and vaccines for Covid-19. It was a year of challenges for
the drug
industry as it struggled to supply existing drugs and treat emergencies
amid disruptions in the way business was conducted the world over.
Unlike previous years when the top five drug companies largely remained unchanged, 2020 saw several movers and shakers. The acquisition of Allergan by AbbVie helped it enter the ‘top five’ list, while companies like Pfizer and Merck got edged out. Despite a 2 percent increase in revenues, Pfizer dropping out
of the top five was not a complete surprise as it spun-off its
Upjohn unit. The unit merged with Mylan to create Viatris, an entity
with over US $10 billion in revenues.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2020 (Free Excel Available)
Roche emerges as top drug company by global sales
The
top five list of global pharmaceutical companies by sales in
2020 was quite a mix of surprises. While Swiss major Roche topped the
ranking of global drug companies by pharmaceutical sales (with global revenues
of US$ 49.6 billion or CHF 44.532 billion), it also witnessed a sales decline
of 8 percent, which was partially an outcome of the Swiss franc gaining against
most currencies during the pandemic. Overall, competition from biosimilars and the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on Roche’s
pharmaceutical sales in 2020. However, it witnessed strong sales growth
of newly launched medicines like Tecentriq, Hemlibra, Ocrevus, Perjeta and Kadcyla, which
helped in offsetting the CHF 5 billion (US$ 5.53 billion) impact of competition
from biosimilars.
At
the
second position was Swiss drugmaker Novartis, whose global sales (at US$ 48.7 billion) were marginally lower than Roche’s. Unlike the numero uno, Novartis’ pharmaceutical sales grew 4 percent, driven by cardiology drug Entresto that witnessed a 44 percent increase in revenues. While its
oncology unit and Sandoz’s biosimilars business also posted an increase in sales, Covid-19 negatively impacted demand, particularly for the company’s ophthalmology and dermatology operations and the retail operations of Sandoz. The year also saw Novartis’ gene therapy
Zolgensma, the world’s costliest drug, reach nearly US$ 1
billion in sales.
As
the British pound became a lot stronger against the US dollar, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) witnessed a 3 percent increase in sales in constant currency terms and saw its group sales (£ 34.1 billion or US$ 47.27 billion) take the number three spot in US dollar terms. Strong sales performances
from key growth drivers in HIV, respiratory, oncology and consumer healthcare
offset disruptions from Covid-19. GSK’s consumer healthcare division reported over £10 billion (US$ 13.91 billion) in sales and the firm is on track to create new standalone biopharma and consumer healthcare companies in 2022.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2020 (Free Excel Available)
AbbVie’s international Humira sales
drop 13.6% due to biosimilars
AbbVie reported worldwide revenues of US$ 45.8
billion, an increase of 38 percent versus the previous year. This included US$ 10.3
billion in revenues from the Allergan acquisition,
growth in the immunology portfolio, and the continued strength of Humira in the US as
well as revenue growth from Imbruvica and Venclexta. Humira, the
best-selling drug since 2012, continued to dominate with US$ 19.83 billion in
sales, an increase of 3.5 percent as compared to 2019. While the
international sales of Humira dropped 13.6 percent due to competition from biosimilars, in the US sales increased as Humira is protected from biosimilar competition until 2023.
J&J’s
pharmaceutical division delivered a strong performance as its pharmaceutical
sales grew 8 percent to US$ 45.6 billion and contributed more than the combined sales of its other two units — consumer health and medical devices. This sales growth was largely attributed to primary operational drivers including Imbruvica and Stelara, which were
among the top 10 drugs by sales in 2020. J&J and AbbVie have an equal share
in the profits (and losses) from the sales of Imbruvica, which witnessed a
double digit increase in sales to US$ 9.4 billion. Similarly, J&J’s Stelara
reached US$ 8.0 billion in sales. J&J’s overall revenues grew by just 0.6 percent
to US$ 82.6 billion (including sales from its consumer health and medical
devices divisions). It will be interesting to see what J&J’s 2021
revenues look like as it benefits from the sales of its single-dose Covid-19
vaccine.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2020 (Free Excel Available)
Merck’s Keytruda on its way to becoming world’s best-seller
With AbbVie’s Humira beginning to face generic competition, Merck’s oncology
drug Keytruda continued to go from strength to strength posting a sales growth of 30
percent. Keytruda delivered more than US$ 14.4 billion in sales, almost a third
of the firm’s US$ 43 billion revenue. It’s only a matter of time before Keytruda becomes the world’s best-selling drug.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS)
reported worldwide revenues of US$ 42.5
billion in 2020. BMS’ products Revlimid and Eliquis reported
significant growth last year, and followed Humira and Keytruda in terms of sales. Eliquis, which is also promoted by Pfizer in some geographies,
had total sales of US$ 14.1 billion while Revlimid posted over US$ 12 billion
in sales. Revlimid, which BMS picked up through its acquisition
of Celgene, will face
limited generic competition sometime after March 2022. Furthermore, while BMS’ oncology
treatment Opdivo’s sales (US$
7.2 billion) declined by 3 percent compared to 2019, it remained one of the top selling drugs in 2020 (US$
7.9 billion) with a small portion of sales coming from Ono Pharma in Japan.
Sanofi reported
approximately US$ 43.6 billion (€36 billion) in net sales
for 2020, which rose by 3.3 percent at constant exchange rates even as some of
its flagship products’ sales declined due to generic and
biosimilar competition. Solid performances from Dupixent, vaccines and its
specialty care global business unit across all geographies, more than offset
lower sales.
In
the case of Gilead, while
products like Biktarvy in its HIV
portfolio witnessed a growth of over 50 percent to more than US$ 6 billion,
it was Gilead’s treatment for Covid-19 — remdesivir — promoted under the brand Veklury which went from no sales in 2019 to US$ 2.81 billion in sales in 2020.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2020 (Free Excel Available)
Our view
The
human health business of many companies was negatively impacted by the Covid-19
pandemic. However, operating expenses saw a reduction due to lower promotional
and selling costs, as well as lower R&D expenses.
This
year, as Covid vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, J&J and AstraZeneca are rolled out in more
countries across the world, they are expected to ring in significant
revenue contributions for these companies. For instance, Pfizer recently announced
that it expects US$ 26 billion in revenues from the sale of its vaccine
in 2021. Similarly, Moderna said it expects US$ 19.2 billion in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine this
year.
Given this scenario, the order of the top drug companies and the sales contribution of various drugs will change significantly in 2021. It seems likely that Pfizer’s vaccine will become the best-selling product by sales in 2021 and the American drugmaker will be back among the top five in the global drug companies by sales list.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2020 (Free Excel Available)
Impressions: 13450
Acquisitions and spin-offs dominated headlines in 2019 and the tone was set very early with Bristol-Myers Squibb acquiring
New Jersey-based cancer drug company Celgene in a US$ 74 billion deal announced on
January 3, 2019. After factoring
in debt, the deal value ballooned to about US$ 95 billion, which according
to data compiled by Refinitiv, made it the largest healthcare deal on
record.
In the summer, AbbVie Inc,
which sells the world’s best-selling drug Humira, announced its acquisition of Allergan Plc, known for Botox and other cosmetic
treatments, for US$ 63 billion. While the companies are still awaiting
regulatory approval for their deal, with US$ 49 billion in combined 2019
revenues, the merged entity would rank amongst the biggest in the industry.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2019 (Free Excel Available)
The big five by pharmaceutical sales — Pfizer,
Roche, J&J, Novartis and Merck
Pfizer
continued
to lead companies by pharmaceutical sales by reporting annual 2019 revenues of
US$ 51.8 billion, a decrease of US$ 1.9 billion, or 4 percent, compared to
2018. The decline was primarily attributed to the loss of exclusivity of Lyrica in 2019,
which witnessed its sales drop from US$ 5 billion in 2018 to US$ 3.3 billion in
2019.
In 2018, Pfizer’s then incoming CEO Albert Bourla had mentioned that the company did not see the need for any large-scale M&A activity as Pfizer had “the best pipeline” in its history, which needed the company to focus on deploying its capital to keep its pipeline flowing and execute on its drug launches.
Bourla stayed true to his word and barring the acquisition of Array Biopharma for US$ 11.4 billion and a spin-off to merge Upjohn, Pfizer’s off-patent branded and generic established medicines business with
Mylan, there weren’t any other big ticket deals which were announced.
The
Upjohn-Mylan merged entity will be called Viatris and is expected to have 2020
revenues between US$ 19 and US$ 20 billion
and could outpace Teva to
become the largest generic company in the world, in term of revenues.
Novartis, which had
followed Pfizer with the second largest revenues in the pharmaceutical industry
in 2018, reported its first full year earnings after spinning off its Alcon eye
care devices business division that
had US$ 7.15 billion in 2018 sales.
In 2019,
Novartis slipped two spots in the ranking after reporting total sales of US$
47.4 billion and its CEO Vas Narasimhan continued his deal-making spree by buying New
Jersey-headquartered The Medicines Company (MedCo) for US$ 9.7
billion to acquire a late-stage cholesterol-lowering
therapy named inclisiran.
As Takeda Pharmaceutical Co was
busy in 2019 on working to reduce its debt burden incurred due to its US$ 62
billion purchase of Shire Plc, which was announced in 2018, Novartis also purchased
the eye-disease medicine, Xiidra, from the Japanese drugmaker for US$ 5.3 billion.
Novartis’ management also spent a considerable part of 2019 dealing with data-integrity concerns which emerged from its 2018 buyout of AveXis, the
gene-therapy maker Novartis had acquired for US$ 8.7 billion.
The deal gave Novartis rights to Zolgensma,
a novel treatment intended for children less than two years of age with the
most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Priced at US$ 2.1 million,
Zolgensma is currently the world’s most expensive drug.
However,
in a shocking announcement, a month after approving the drug, the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) issued a press release on
data accuracy issues as the agency was informed by AveXis that
its personnel had manipulated data which
the FDA used to evaluate product comparability and nonclinical (animal)
pharmacology as part of the biologics license application (BLA), which was
submitted and reviewed by the FDA.
With US$
50.0 billion (CHF 48.5 billion) in annual pharmaceutical sales, Swiss drugmaker
Roche came in at number two position in 2019
as its sales grew 11 percent driven by
its multiple sclerosis medicine Ocrevus, haemophilia drug Hemlibra and cancer medicines Tecentriq and Perjeta.
Roche’s newly introduced medicines generated US$ 5.53 billion (CHF 5.4 billion) in growth, helping offset the impact of the competition from biosimilars for its three best-selling drugs MabThera/Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin.
In late 2019, after months of increased
antitrust scrutiny, Roche completed
its US$ 5.1 billion acquisition of Spark Therapeutics to strengthen its presence in
gene therapy.
Last year, J&J reported almost flat worldwide sales of US$ 82.1 billion. J&J’s pharmaceutical division generated US$ 42.20 billion and its medical devices and consumer health divisions brought in US$ 25.96 billion and US$ 13.89 billion respectively.
Since J&J’s consumer health division sells analgesics, digestive health along with beauty and oral care products, the US$ 5.43 billion in consumer health sales from over-the-counter drugs and women’s health products was only used in our assessment of J&J’s total pharmaceutical revenues. With combined pharmaceutical sales of US$ 47.63 billion, J&J made it to number three on our list.
While the sales of products like Stelara, Darzalex, Imbruvica, Invega Sustenna drove J&J’s pharmaceutical business to grow by 4 percent over 2018, the firm had to contend with generic competition against key revenue contributors Remicade and Zytiga.
US-headquartered Merck, which is known as
MSD (short for Merck Sharp & Dohme) outside the United States and
Canada, is set to significantly move up the rankings next year fueled by its
cancer drug Keytruda, which witnessed a 55
percent increase in sales to US$ 11.1 billion.
Merck reported total revenues of US$ 41.75 billion and also
announced it will spin off its women’s health drugs,
biosimilar drugs and older products to create a new pharmaceutical
company with US$ 6.5 billion in annual revenues.
The firm had anticipated 2020 sales between US$ 48.8 billion and US$ 50.3 billion however this week it announced that the coronavirus pandemic will reduce 2020 sales by more than $2 billion.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2019 (Free Excel Available)
Humira holds on to remain world’s best-selling drug
AbbVie’s acquisition of Allergan comes as the firm faces the expiration of patent protection for Humira, which brought in a staggering US$ 19.2 billion in sales last year for
the company. AbbVie has failed to successfully acquire or develop a major new
product to replace the sales generated by its flagship drug.
In 2019, Humira’s US revenues increased 8.6 percent to US$ 14.86 billion while internationally, due
to biosimilar competition, the sales dropped 31.1 percent to US$ 4.30 billion.
Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis, which is also marketed by Pfizer, maintained its number two position
and posted total sales of US$ 12.1 billion, a 23 percent increase over 2018.
While Bristol Myers Squibb’s immunotherapy treatment Opdivo, sold in partnership with Ono in Japan, saw sales increase from US$ 7.57 billion to US$ 8.0 billion, the growth paled in comparison to the US$ 3.9
billion revenue increase of Opdivo’s key immunotherapy competitor Merck’s Keytruda.
Keytruda took the number three spot in drug sales that
previously belonged to Celgene’s Revlimid, which witnessed a sales decline from US$ 9.69 billion to US$ 9.4 billion.
Cancer treatment Imbruvica, which is marketed
by J&J and AbbVie, witnessed a 30 percent increase in sales. With US$ 8.1
billion in 2019 revenues, it took the number five position.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2019 (Free Excel Available)
Vaccines – Covid-19 turns competitors into partners
This year has been dominated by the single biggest health emergency in years — the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. As drugs continue to fail to meet expectations, vaccine development has received a lot of attention.
GSK reported the highest vaccine sales of all drugmakers with
total sales of US$ 8.4 billion (GBP 7.16 billion), a significant portion of its
total sales of US$ 41.8 billion (GBP 33.754 billion).
US-based Merck’s vaccine division also reported a significant increase in sales to US$ 8.0 billion and in 2019 received FDA and EU approval to market its Ebola vaccine Ervebo.
This is the first FDA-authorized vaccine against the deadly virus which causes
hemorrhagic fever and spreads from person to person through direct contact with
body fluids.
Pfizer and Sanofi also reported an increase in their vaccine sales to US$ 6.4
billion and US$ 6.2 billion respectively and the Covid-19 pandemic has recently
pushed drugmakers to move faster than ever before and has also converted
competitors into partners.
In a rare move, drug behemoths — Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) —joined hands to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
The two companies plan to start human trials
in the second half of this year, and if things go right, they will file
for potential approvals by the second half of 2021.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2019 (Free Excel Available)
Our view
Covid-19 has brought the world economy to a grinding halt and shifted the global attention to the pharmaceutical industry’s capability to deliver solutions to address this pandemic.
Our compilation shows that vaccines and drugs
for infectious diseases currently form a tiny fraction of the total sales of
pharmaceutical companies and few drugs against infectious diseases rank high on
the sales list.
This could well explain the limited range of
options currently available to fight Covid-19. With the pandemic currently infecting
over 3 million people spread across more than 200 countries, we can safely
conclude that the scenario in 2020 will change substantially. And so should our
compilation of top drugs for the year.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top drugs by sales in 2019 (Free Excel Available)
Impressions: 55099