Global Pharma Revenue Rankings Released: Johnson & Johnson Tops the List, First Asian Pharma Company Enters the Ranking!

FiercePharma recently released its ranking of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies by revenue in 2019, with Johnson & Johnson taking the top spot with $82.1 billion in revenue. Most of the higher-ranked companies demonstrated strong performance in oncology, immunology, and rare diseases. Another commonality among the top ten companies was their robust vaccine development portfolios.

Roche, ranked second, and Novartis, ranked fourth, have made significant progress in cell and gene therapies. Takeda has secured a spot on the list by adding rare diseases to its extensive product portfolio through the acquisition of Shire. Pfizer’s experience underscores the importance of new drug development; amid significant patent losses, new medications have become more critical than ever.

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a global healthcare giant spanning the pharmaceutical, consumer health, and medical device sectors, with its headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. In recent years, driven by strong momentum in oncology and immunology, the performance of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical segment has outpaced its other business units.

In 2019, Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical sales grew by 5.8% to reach $42.2 billion, outpacing the 3% growth in its consumer health segment. Meanwhile, medical device sales declined by 1.7% to $29.63 billion. With total revenue of $82.1 billion, Johnson & Johnson topped the list of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies by revenue in 2019.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Stelara’s sales rose 25% to $6.3 billion. Tremfya, a drug for autoimmune diseases, and the oncology medicines Darzalex and Imbruvica all demonstrated strong growth momentum. Johnson & Johnson has also faced competitive pressure from generics, such as the prostate cancer drug Zytiga. Forecasts indicate that Johnson & Johnson will encounter even greater generic competition in 2020; however, company executives project that its 2020 revenue will reach $85.8 billion to $86.6 billion.

Roche

With revenue of $63.54 billion, Roche ranked second among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies by revenue in 2019. For Roche, 2019 was a challenging year. The market entry of the first biosimilars for Roche’s three blockbuster biologics—Avastin, Rituxan, and Herceptin—exposed the company to significant competitive pressure from generic alternatives, with U.S. fourth-quarter sales of both Herceptin and Avastin declining by double digits. Furthermore, the FDA’s approval at the end of last year of Enhertu, jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, for the treatment of adult patients with HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic breast cancer, posed a major threat to Roche’s dominant position in the HER2-positive breast cancer sector. In response to the impact of biosimilars and competing therapies for the same indications, Roche has been striving to mitigate these effects through the launch of new drugs.

Ocrevus, dubbed “Roche’s most successful product in its history,” also faces numerous competitors. First approved by the FDA in March 2017, Ocrevus achieved sales of CHF 3.71 billion in 2019, representing a 57% increase from 2018. Last March, the FDA approved Merck KGaA’s Mavenclad for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), marking it as the first and onlyFDAShort-course oral drug approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. A few months later, Biogen’s Tecfidera also received FDA marketing approval. Ocrevus’s biggest competitor is Novartis’s Arzerra. Recently, the FDA and EMA accepted a new indication application for Arzerra, after its Phase III clinical results—demonstrating efficacy in a broad population of patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) by reducing annual relapse rates and the risk of disability progression—outperformed Sanofi’s oral drug Aubagio. Due to various factors, Roche expects sales growth to slow in 2020.

Merck & Co.

Merck & Co. achieved robust growth in 2019, with global sales reaching $46.84 billion, ranking fifth globally. The company plans to spin off its women’s health, legacy brands, and biosimilars portfolios into a new entity, a move expected to be completed in the first half of 2021. These products are projected to generate approximately $6.5 billion in revenue for Merck & Co. in 2020. Like other pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co. aims to divest certain products to focus more intently on the research and development of novel therapies.

Keytruda received new approvals last year, driving its market share to continue soaring. Its full-year sales reached $11.1 billion, representing a 55% increase from 2018, making Keytruda Merck’s best-selling product to date. It was followed by the type 2 diabetes drug Januvia, which generated $5.52 billion in sales last year. Additionally, Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil continued its upward trajectory last year, with global revenue rising 19% to $3.7 billion. Experts believe that vaccines will have continued growth opportunities as global demand surges.

Takeda

Takeda ranked ninth in its debut on the list, becoming the first Asian pharmaceutical company to appear, thanks to its acquisition of Shire. However, to complete this acquisition, Takeda incurred substantial debt. In 2019, as part of its deleveraging efforts, Takeda sold Xiidra, Shire’s eye drop for dry eye disease, to Novartis; sold TachoSil, a surgical hemostatic patch, to Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, for $400 million; sold the rights to approximately 30 over-the-counter and prescription drugs in the Middle East and African markets to Swiss pharmaceutical company Acino International for over $200 million; and sold certain assets in Russia to Stada for $660 million. Last month, Takeda sold 18 branded prescription and consumer healthcare products in the Latin American market to Hypera Pharma for $825 million. Meanwhile, Takeda relocated its U.S. operations from Chicago to the Greater Boston area and sold its former headquarters for $115 million.

Thanks to these divestitures, Takeda’s debt reduction efforts have progressed faster than expected. The company is projected to achieve its target net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.0x during the period from 2022 to 2024.

In stark contrast to other top-10 global pharmaceutical companies, Takeda lacks blockbuster products, particularly after the patent for its best-selling drug, Velcade, was ruled invalid. Although Takeda maintained a relatively strong market position during the initial months of generic competition for Velcade, sales plummeted by nearly one-quarter in the final three months of last year.

In the rare disease sector, particularly in hemophilia, Takeda was impacted by Roche’s monoclonal antibody drug Hemlibra, with Shire’s Advate sales plummeting by 26%. This made rare diseases the only one of Takeda’s five key therapeutic areas to experience a revenue decline in 2019.

Teva

In 2019, Teva’s net revenue reached $16.89 billion, an 8% decline from 2018, driven by pricing pressures on generic drugs in international markets and the continued sales slump of its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. It ranked 18th.

In 2019, Teva laid off approximately 13,000 employees; 23 manufacturing plants were closed, divested, or slated for closure; and 40 offices and laboratories were shut down. As 2019 came to an end, Teva’s global wave of layoffs had also concluded. Teva predicted that in 2020, the Huntington’s disease drug Austedo and anti-CGRP Migraine MedicationsAjovy’s sales amounted to $650 million and $250 million, respectively. The company expects to rely on these two drugs to drive growth in its branded pharmaceutical portfolio and expand its operating margin to the 28% range.

On the other hand, Teva will continue to face legal issues in the coming months, which may dampen the momentum of its product development.

Summary

Among the top 20 companies, five reported a decline in revenue in 2019 compared to 2018: Pfizer (ranked third), Bayer (tenth), Amgen (thirteenth), Teva (eighteenth), and Biogen (twentieth). Takeda, which made its debut on the list, recorded the largest growth, with an increase of $13.44 billion in revenue compared to 2018. It is also the first Asian pharmaceutical company to enter the ranking.

Experts have pointed out that Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) successfully acquired Celgene, and when the combined company's data is released in 2020, it may leap to a leading position in the rankings. If AbbVie’s acquisition of Allergan is completed as scheduled later this year, AbbVie will also rise to the top spot.

Top 20 Pharmaceutical Companies by Revenue in 2019, as follows:

References:

1、The top 20 pharma companies by 2019 revenue

2、Takeda nets $940M from sales of U.S. HQ to Horizon, Latin American brands to Hypera

3、 Fighting for market share, J&J expects last year's copycat pain to 'bleed into 2020' 

4、Biosimilars will leave a $10B gap in Roche's sales, but new drugs can more than fill it: exec

5、Teva's global cutback spree is done. Now, it's aiming to grow with Ajovy, Austedo

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