Top companies and drugs by sales in 2020 - Nature

NEWS & ANALYSIS

MARKET WATCH

on Eylea, which accounted for almost 70% of

sales last year, it is almost certain to rigorously

Top companies and drugs by sales in 2020

defend its cash cow. Regeneron was not the only company to

be heavily dependent on a single product last

Having supplanted Novartis as the biggest

Bumping up sales through acquisitions

year; Gilead's HIV treatment Biktarvy made

pharma company by prescription sales in

saw BMS add Revlimid (lenalidomide) and

up more than one-third of group sales, a figure

2019, Roche managed to hang onto the title its $12 billion in yearly revenue through the

that is expected to increase to more than 45%

in 2020 (Fig. 1a). This success came despite

$74-billion purchase of Celgene in 2019, giving in 2026, following Gilead's less than successful

lower sales than 2019, as some of its biggest it three of the top-ten-s elling drugs in 2020.

attempts to grow beyond its 2015 peak, which

drugs, including multiple sclerosis treatment But this is just a short-term boost, as Revlimid was fuelled by hepatitis C therapies. There

Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), were hit early in

is set to lose patent protection in 2022, which had been hopes that the COVID-19 antiviral,

the pandemic owing to hospitals delaying

made BMS's success in fighting off generic

Veklury (remdesivir), could boost Gilead's

treatments and focusing on COVID-19.

competition for Eliquis (apixaban) until at least sales, but decreasing hospitalization rates

While second-placed company Novartis 2026 even more important. The blood thinner, have limited the number of patients eligible

managed to increase its year-o n-y ear sales,

which overtook Johnson & Johnson and Bayer's for treatment with the nucleotide analogue.

they were still relatively muted as COVID-19 slower-growing rival Xarelto (rivaroxaban) in Indeed, despite COVID-19's huge global

again played its part. Novartis's best-s eller,

2018, is BMS's second biggest growth driver

impact in 2020, it had relatively little impact on

the anti-IL-17 monoclonal antibody (mAb) behind Opdivo (nivolumab) and is forecast

drug sales. But with Pfizer, one of 2020's big-

Cosentyx (secukinumab), was held back by to bring in almost as much as the PD1 inhibitor gest losers in terms of annual sales and ranking

reductions in hospital-a dministered and

by 2026, according to Evaluate Pharma.

following the spinoff of Upjohn, already

physician-a dministered infusions to treat

Indirect generic competition could hurt

predicting sales of $15 billion this year from

the autoimmune diseases it is approved for,

the chances of Eylea (aflibercept), 2020's fifth its COVID-19 vaccine, that could all change.

such as psoriasis. Challenges with treatment administration also limited the uptake of the

biggest-selling drug. Lucentis (ranibizumab), Novartis's rival drug for wet age-r elated macu-

Lisa Urquhart Evaluate Vantage, London, UK.

gene therapy Zolgensma (onasemnogene

lar degeneration, is set to have biosimilar com-

e-mail: lisau@

abeparvovec) for spinal muscular atrophy.

petitors this year, which could cause doctors to



Usually the top five drug companies are a relatively stable group, but this year has

start new patients on the cheaper alternatives, rather than Eylea. Given Regeneron's reliance

Competing interests The author declares no competing interests.

been marked by some significant moves, with AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) moving up four and five places, respectively, pushing Pfizer and Merck & Co. lower down the table.

Merck's descent in the table should come as little surprise as it was one of the few companies in the first quarter of 2020 to warn that COVID-19 would hit its full-y ear pharma sales. Nevertheless, the company still managed to report a rise in revenues over the full year,

a Company

Roche

Novartis

AbbVie

Johnson & Johnson

Bristol Myers Squibb

Merck & Co.

Sanofi

Pfizer

47.5 48.8

47.2 46.1 44.3 32.4 43.1 40.1 41.9 25.2 41.4 40.7

35.8 34.9

35.6 43.8

largely thanks to its powerhouse: the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab). The PD1 inhibitor remains on track to be the

GlaxoSmithKline Takeda*

30.6 31.3 28.4 28.7

2020 2019

industry's biggest selling drug in 2023, finally toppling Humira (adalimumab), which is expected to see biosimilar competition enter the market that year.

But for now Humira remains the top product in 2020 (Fig. 1b), with full-y ear revenues surpassing US$20 billion owing to AbbVie's deals with biosimilar companies. The strength of Humira, the successful launches of rheumatoid arthritis drug Rinvoq (upadacitinib) and psoriasis treatment Skyrizi (risankizumab), plus the contribution from the BTK inhibitor Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for blood cancers and Botox following the acquisition of Allergan,

0

b Product (company)

Humira (AbbVie)

Keytruda (Merck & Co.)

Revlimid (Bristol Myers Squibb)

Eliquis (Bristol Myers Squibb) Eylea (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals)

Stelara (Johnson & Johnson)

Opdivo (Bristol Myers Squibb)

Imbruvica (AbbVie)

Biktarvy (Gilead Sciences) Xarelto (Bayer/

Johnson & Johnson)

5

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

14.4 11.1

12.2 11.2 9.2 7.9 8.4 8.0 7.9 6.6 7.9 8.0

7.6 5.7

7.3 4.7

6.9 6.4

20.4 19.7

2020 2019

helped to increase AbbVie's sales by an impressive 33%. With both Rinvoq and Skyrizi fore-

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Sales (US$ billions)

cast to have revenues in excess of $7 billion by Fig. 1 | Top companies and drugs by sales in 2020. a | Top ten companies by sales of prescription

2026, AbbVie might not slip too far down the and over-t he-c ounter drugs. *Data for Takeda are consensus forecasts. b | Top ten drugs by sales

rankings when Humira sales start to decline. globally. Data for 2019 are included for comparison. Source: EvaluatePharma.

NAture Reviews | Drug DisCovery

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volume 20 | April 2021 | 253

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