The top players
in pharma know how to adapt. After M&A, selloffs, cost cuts
and therapeutic rejigs, the companies on this list may largely wear the
same names, but none entered it looking exactly as they did for last year's
edition.
Whether because
of buyouts or reorgs or both, companies atop the rankings this year generally
have a strong presence in cancer, but immunology and rare diseases
are also strongholds. Takeda gained its place on the list thanks to a Shire
buyout that added rare diseases to its broader lineup.
Vaccines are
important, too: Companies with leading vaccine outfits all made the
top 10. Cell and gene therapies continue making advances across the
industry, including at Novartis and Roche.
New launches
played a big role as usual, as the individual company profiles show. And
at companies with particularly tough patent losses—Pfizer, for
instance—newer meds have shown they're more important than ever.
Meanwhile,
pricing pressure remains an industrywide issue, but maybe less so than experts
predicted in 2020. Despite this being an election year in the U.S., the
COVID-19 pandemic has changed much about the world. Drug pricing talk doesn't
get as much traction in Washington, D.C., compared with years past.
Looking forward,
global economies are relying on the pharmaceutical industry to produce
solutions, and many of the companies on this list are involved in the race for
vaccines and drugs. We'll continue tracking their performance—and potential
advances in COVID-19—as the year plays out.
Some notes:
Though BMS closed its Celgene deal in late 2019, it won't leap ahead in
our rankings till next year, when the combined company's 2020 numbers are
in. AbbVie is set to jump in the rankings as well, thanks to its
massive purchase of Allergan, provided the deal closes later this year as
scheduled.
The top 20 pharma companies by 2019 revenue
