Market Place
In 2022, the pandemic continued to bring in a windfall for
pharmaceutical companies manufacturing Covid-19 products, with Pfizer’s total annual sales reaching
a record high by surpassing US$ 100 billion for the first time.AbbVie, despite not having any Covid products
in its portfolio, maintained its second position due to the sales of its blockbuster drug Humira and other medicines. Johnson & Johnson held
onto the third spot, while Merck experienced the most significant
change, climbing to the fourth position from seventh place in the previous
year. AstraZeneca also moved up a spot to the
eighth position. On the other hand, Novartis (fifth), Roche (sixth), BMS (seventh) and Sanofi (ninth) slipped in the rankings,
while GSK (tenth) retained its position.
There were no new entries in the top 10 in terms of pharmaceutical sales.View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2022 (Free Excel Available)Pfizer retains top position
as Comirnaty, Paxlovid, together generate over US$ 56 billion In 2022, Pfizer’s Covid-19 products — vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral pill Paxlovid — generated combined sales of US$ 56.7 billion. With a haul of US$ 37.8 billion, Comirnaty comfortably
maintained its position as the top-selling drug for a second year in a row.
Paxlovid brought in US$ 18.9 billion in its first full year on the market, grabbing the number four spot.Moderna’s messenger RNA
Covid vaccine Spikevax generated US$ 18.4 billion in revenues, emerging as the
fifth largest drug by sales in 2022.View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2022 (Free Excel Available) AbbVie’s Humira, J&J’s Stelara post impressive growth; BMS face revenue declineAbbVie’s cash cow Humira, the bestselling non-Covid
product in biopharma history, achieved sales of US$ 21.24 billion (partner Eisai reported another US$ 370 million) in 2022. While Humira brought in approximately 37 percent of the company’s total net revenues of US$ 58 billion in 2022, strong revenues from blood cancer drug Imbruvica, psoriasis treatment Skyrizi and rheumatoid arthritis med Rinvoq also contributed to AbbVie’s strong performance.J&J generated US$ 52.56 billion in 2022
revenues. Its pharmaceutical segment experienced an operational growth of 6.7 percent, driven by impressive
performance of key drugs such as Stelara for inflammatory diseases
and Darzalex for multiple myeloma.
Stelara, which generated US$ 10.2 billion in overall sales last year (a
growth of 6.9 percent), is expected to face
generic competition in the US as its
exclusivity is ending in 2023.BMS’ sales remained relatively
unchanged even though its blockbuster multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid, experienced a 22 percent
revenue decline due to generic competition. While Revlimid still generated
sales of US$ 9.98 billion (partner BeiGene reported another US$ 80 million) in 2022, two other drugs, anticoagulant Eliquis and cancer drug Opdivo performed well. Eliquis
generated US$ 11.8 billion in sales (partner Pfizer reported another US$ 6.5
billion), a 9.2 percent increase over 2021, while Opdivo achieved US$ 8.25 billion in sales (partner Ono Pharmaceuticals reported another US$ 1.05 billion). The drugmaker also introduced new products like Opdualag, Abecma and Reblozyl, which bolstered
its overall sales.View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2022 (Free Excel Available)Merck expands use of blockbuster Keytruda; oncology drugs boost Astra’s revenueMerck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda had a remarkable year,
achieving a significant year-on-year growth of 22 percent and generating US$ 20.9 billion in 2022 sales. This success propelled Keytruda to the third position among the top-selling drugs. Keytruda’s continuous expansion into new indications and treatment lines has solidified its position as a leading PD1 inhibitor, and is expected to maintain its momentum in 2023. Additionally, Merck’s Covid-19 pill Lagevrio recorded impressive sales of US$ 5.7 billion in 2022. Overall, at US$ 52 billion, the drugmaker posted spectacular
growth in sales of 22 percent.AstraZeneca also experienced an
impressive growth of 18 percent in 2022 to reach US$ 43 billion in revenue. The
growth was primarily driven by the success of its cancer treatments, with
blockbuster drugs like Tagrisso, Farxiga, Imfinzi, Lynparza playing a vital role. These drugs accounted for 35 percent of AstraZeneca’s overall revenue.View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2022 (Free Excel Available)Newer
meds bolster Roche’s growth; Sanofi thrives with DupixentIn 2022, Roche experienced a sales growth of 2 percent at Constant Exchange Rate (CER) to reach CHF 45.55 billion (US$
49.8 billion). The company’s strong pharmaceutical sales were fueled by increasing demand for newer medicines, including Ocrevus (for multiple sclerosis), Hemlibra (for hemophilia A), Vabysmo
(for eye conditions), Evrysdi (for spinal muscular
atrophy) and cancer drug Tecentriq. In 2022, Sanofi recorded global sales of €43 billion (US$ 47.1 billion), representing a 7 percent growth at CER. The French drugmaker’s strong performance was driven by major drugs, particularly Dupixent and its vaccine franchise.
Dupixent brought in impressive sales of €8.3 billion (US$ 9.1 billion), marking a significant 57 percent increase over the previous year. Originally approved by the FDA in 2017 for atopic dermatitis,
Dupixent has expanded its applications to include moderate to severe asthma and
eosinophilic esophagitis, contributing to its continued growth. Sanofi expects
Dupixent to reach €10 billion (US$ 10.7 billion) in sales
in the current year.In July 2022, GlaxoSmithKline changed its name to GSK and demerged its consumer
healthcare business to form Haleon, thereby becoming a fully
focused biopharmaceutical company. The British drugmaker reported a modest 8 percent growth in revenue — at £29.32 billion (US$ 36.15 billion).View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2022 (Free Excel Available)Our viewAs the pandemic wanes, 2023 could be a year of transition for many
drugmakers. Companies such as Pfizer, Moderna and AbbVie are implementing
significant changes to their business strategies. Pfizer foresees a substantial
decline in revenue, projecting a sharp drop of 33 percent with the reduced demand for
its Covid-19 products. AbbVie, on the other hand, anticipates a decline in
sales of its cash cow Humira due to increasing competition from biosimilars.
These drugmakers are turning to innovative therapies, new indications,
cost-cutting measures, acquisitions and partnerships to restrict the
anticipated drop in revenues and ensure sustained growth.Barring these drugmakers, several other big players shared
positive growth in the first quarter of 2023. While analysts predict Keytruda
and Dupixent to continue their strong growth, there is optimism surrounding diabetes and obesity drugs,
with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy experiencing unprecedented
demand. Eli Lilly is also anticipating the US
approval of Mounjaro for obesity later this year.
All in all, we anticipate more changes in our list of top companies and drugs
for 2023!
Impressions: 5222
https://www.pharmacompass.com/radio-compass-blog/top-pharma-companies-and-drugs-in-2022-pfizer-breaks-us-100-billion-barrier-abbvie-s-humira-retains-second-spot
#PharmaFlow by PHARMACOMPASS
01 Jun 2023
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Every year, the list of top pharmaceutical products and companies by sales sees some churn. But the year 2021 was a lot different — it saw the pharma industry landscape change dramatically. It was a
year when the industry was busy developing vaccines and therapies so that the
world could recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. And this resulted in many
drugmakers raking in billions of dollars in sales.
As a result,
the top company of 2020 in terms
of pharmaceutical sales — Roche — slipped to the number five spot, while Pfizer, which was at number eight in 2020 after
spinning off its generic business, moved up to the number one slot.
The year
proved to be a good one for pharmaceutical companies.
Interestingly, last year none of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies saw a decline in
their revenue.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2021 (Free Excel Available)
Pfizer’s Comirnaty steals the show
The
company that reaped the maximum gains from its Covid vaccine was Pfizer.
Comirnaty (tozinameran) was the top selling pharmaceutical
product of 2021, posting global revenues of US$ 36.8 billion. This
messenger-RNA Covid-19 vaccine, developed along with its German partner BioNTech, catapulted Pfizer to the slot of the top company by sales in 2021. Pfizer’s global topline grew from US$ 41.7 billion in 2020 to US$ 81.3 billion in 2021.
In
2020, Pfizer was at
number eight, behind Roche, Novartis, GSK, AbbVie, J&J, Merck and BMS. In 2021, it took a lead of billions of dollars on all these companies. The second largest drug company by sales — AbbVie — was way down at US$ 56.1 billion in global revenues. In fact, Comirnaty has
become the fastest-selling drug in the history of the pharmaceutical
industry.
Back in
December 2020, when both Comirnaty and Moderna’s Spikevax had bagged the US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization (EUA), there was a lot of uncertainty around how the promised doses would be delivered across the world. But both Comirnaty and Spikevax have proven to be a resounding success. Spikevax emerged as the third largest selling pharmaceutical product of 2021, bringing in US$ 17.7 billion for Moderna.
Analysts
expect both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to sell even more vaccines in
2022. The reasons are manifold. First, SARS-CoV-2 is able to mutate often, and
is unlikely to be eradicated in the near future, creating a need for booster
shots. Second, the younger age groups are still to get vaccinated.
Along with
Comirnaty, Pfizer is battling Covid-19 with its antiviral pill, Paxlovid. Though the sales of Paxlovid have nosedived of late, Pfizer expects
Comirnaty and Paxlovid to help the New York-headquartered drug behemoth achieve US$ 100 billion
in 2022 revenues.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2021 (Free Excel Available)
AbbVie
moves up, sans Covid product; Roche slips to number five
With no
Covid-19 related products, AbbVie did fairly well in 2021 — it moved up from the number four spot in 2020 to number two position, thanks to its Allergan acquisition, cash cow Humira (adalimumab), the continued success of its
cancer drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib) and an increase in sale of its psoriasis treatment Skyrizi (risankizumab) by a whopping 85 percent in 2021. Humira brought in sales of US$ 21.2 billion for AbbVie in 2021. However, things may change soon, with biosimilars of Humira slated to enter the market in 2023. The years 2022 and 2023 are likely to be transition years for AbbVie, as it works to build the market for its Humira successors — Rinvoq and Skyrizi.
Roche
emerged as a big loser in 2021, as several copycats of its blockbuster drugs
hit the market. Copycats to Roche’s three blockbuster cancer drugs—Avastin, Herceptin and Rituxan—eroded US$ 4.9 billion (CHF 4.73 billion) from the company’s sales in 2021. A large chunk
of growth for Roche came from its multiple sclerosis med Ocrevus, hemophilia drug Hemlibra, inflammatory disease therapy Actemra and PD-L1 inhibitor Tecentriq. The pandemic resulted in
lower-than-expected sales of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) due to fears around its
immunosuppressive effects.
Like Roche, Novartis also slipped last year. It fell from
number two in 2020 to the number four slot in 2021. Essentially, Novartis is
struggling with a relatively lackluster pipeline. It had sold its 33 percent stake in Roche last
year for US$ 20.7 billion. It plans to use that sum for acquisitions in order
to beef up its pipeline. The Swiss drugmaker has also drawn up a restructuring
plan that includes layoffs of thousands of employees.
Before the
pandemic, Merck’s Keytruda was touted as the drug that would overtake
Humira at the top in 2024. The checkpoint inhibitor has continued to grow
impressively, adding new indications and treatment lines. Keytruda is now used
in close to 40 indications. With US$ 17.2 billion in sales, Keytruda emerged as
the fourth largest selling drug of 2022.
Overall
though, Merck slipped from number six to the number eight slot. This was due to
the fact that Merck had spun out its women’s
health, biosimilars and established brands businesses into Organon. However, its Covid-19 antiviral pill — Molnupiravir — was able to compensate for the lost revenue. Though the FDA is yet to grant the drug a full approval (it bagged an EUA in December 2021), advance sales agreements helped it rack up US$ 952 million in sales in the fourth quarter.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2021 (Free Excel Available)
BMS moves
up with Eliquis, Revlimid; J&J lands at number three
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) moved up from number seven in 2020 to number six, thanks to two of its drugs that made it to top 10 — anticoagulant Eliquis at number five and oncology drug Revlimid at number six. However, Revlimid will soon face competition — four generic companies now have the approval to sell their versions of Revlimid (lenalidomide) after March 2022. Revlimid
sales are expected to drop from US$ 12.9 billion to just US$ 2.06 billion in
2026.
BMS posted
US$ 46.4 billion in global revenues, a nine percent increase from US$ 42.5
billion reported in 2020. In immuno-oncology, Opdivo
brought in US$ 7.52
billion in sales, while Yervoy drew in sales of US$ 2 billion
(an increase of 20 percent).
J&J’s pharma division brought in US$ 52.1 billion in revenues
last year, an increase of 14 percent over its revenues of US$ 45.6 billion
posted in 2020. Drugs like Darzalex (for multiple myeloma), Stelara and its Covid-19 vaccine brought in growth during 2021,
helping J&J move up from number five to the number three slot. J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine brought in US$ 2.4 billion in
sales.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2021 (Free Excel Available)
GSK bags
approval for shingles vaccine; Takeda suffers setbacks
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) slipped four places — from number three in 2020 to number seven in 2021. Though GSK did not have a drug in the top 10, sales of GSK and Vir Biotechnology’s Covid-19 antibody treatment
sotrovimab helped produce a seven percent increase in its 2021 revenue. The British drugmaker also bagged a critical FDA approval — its vaccine to prevent shingles (herpes zoster), Shingrix, bagged the agency’s nod in July. GSK hopes to double the sales of Shingrix by 2026.
GSK is also undergoing a major transformation, and plans to demerge its consumer health unit this year. The unit generated revenues of £9.6 billion (US$ 13 billion) last year, and GSK sees the demerger as a necessary step to fuel growth through the development of new vaccines and specialty medicines.
Sanofi managed to retain its ninth slot, even as
its global turnover increased from US$ 39.3 billion (Euro 36.04 billion) to US$
41.6 billion (Euro 37.76 billion). It snapped up Kymab, Tidal Therapeutics, Translate Bio, Kadmon Holdings, Origimm Biotechnology and Amunix in deals that bolstered its presence in immunology, immuno-oncology and vaccines. Dealmaking is on the French drugmaker’s menu for 2022 and beyond, Sanofi’s CFO said at this year’s virtual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
AstraZeneca’s global revenues grew from US$ 26.6 billion in 2020 to US$ 37.4 billion in 2021. However, its rank fell from nine in 2020 to 10 in 2021.
AstraZeneca
wrapped up the US$ 39 billion acquisition of Alexion in July 2021. Alexion’s rare disease franchise—led by C5 inhibitors Soliris and Ultomiris—added an extra US$ 3.1 billion to Astra’s top line last year.
Takeda suffered several clinical and regulatory setbacks in 2021, which it labeled as an “inflection year.” For Gilead, sales of its Covid-19 antiviral Veklury brought in US$ 5.6 billion last year,
helping its revenues grow by 11 percent.
View Our Interactive Dashboard on Top Drugs by Sales in 2021 (Free Excel Available)
Our view
If anything,
the pandemic has taught us that change is the only constant. It has also taught
us that products can become blockbusters in a matter of a few months.
The industry
landscape continues to change. On the one hand, we are seeing people scrambling
to get Covid vaccines and booster shots, on the other hand, the FDA has limited the use of monoclonal antibodies, such as Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab and etesevimab and
Regeneron’s REGEN-COV (casirivimab and
imdevimab), in treating Covid caused by the Omicron variant. The FDA has also pulled the authorization
granted to GSK and Vir Biotechnology’s antibody therapy this month,
citing data that suggested it was unlikely to be effective against the dominant
Omicron sub-variant.
And last
week, there was news that demand for Pfizer’s
antiviral pill Paxlovid has remained unexpectedly low. The supply
of Paxlovid, which reduced hospitalizations or deaths in high-risk patients by
around 90 percent in a clinical trial, has far outstripped demand in many
countries like the US, the UK and South Korea.
Though Pfizer is hopeful of crossing US$ 100 billion in revenue this
year, much depends on how the pandemic pans out and what new research has to
say about the novel coronavirus. A lot will change once the pandemic becomes endemic.
The first four months of 2022 tell us that vaccines like Comirnaty and Spikevax
will continue to perform well.
But two years down the line, our charts could look very different.
Impressions: 7982
https://www.pharmacompass.com/radio-compass-blog/top-pharma-companies-drugs-in-2021-covid-vaccines-pills-cause-churn-in-list
#PharmaFlow by PHARMACOMPASS
28 Apr 2022
