2025 Global Best-Selling Drugs Top 10: BMS Holds Three Spots, Humira Slips to #6

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Recently, the renowned global market research firm GlobalData released the "Top 10 Best-Selling Drugs Worldwide in 2025" list. According to forecasts, MSD’s immuno-oncology drugKeytrudaIt is projected to become the best-selling drug in 2023, with sales reaching $22.2 billion by 2025.

Since its approval by the U.S. FDA in 2015, Keytruda has become Merck & Co.’s most important product. To date, Keytruda has gained approval for more than 20 oncology indications in the United States. Merck & Co., which boasts the industry’s largest immuno-oncology portfolio, continues to expand into new indications and markets globally. In the first nine months of this year, Keytruda’s sales reached $7.973 billion, representing a 58.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

Ranked on the list2nd Placeis Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer's oral anticoagulantEliquis, the drug is expected to maintain its strong growth momentum, with sales projected to reach $18.7 billion in 2025.

RankingsNo. 3Celgene's blockbuster immunomodulatorRevlimid, with sales projected to reach $12.4 billion in 2025; however, the drug will also be impacted by generic competition. In the United States, generic versions of Revlimid are expected to enter the market in 2022.

RankingNo. 4It is from BMS.Opdivo, with sales projected to reach $12 billion in 2025, this drug is Keytruda’s primary competitor in the immuno-oncology field. Opdivo’s sales in the first nine months of this year amounted to $5.441 billion, representing a 10% year-over-year increase.

Currently, the BMS-Celgene merger is underway, and upon completion, Revlimid will become a BMS asset. This means that in the “Top 10 Best-Selling Drugs Globally in 2025” list, BMS will hold three products—Eliquis, Revlimid, and Opdivo—with combined sales reaching $43.1 billion in 2025.

Ranked on the list5this Johnson & Johnson/AbbVie's BTK inhibitorImbruvica，Sales of the drug are projected to reach $11.9 billion in 2025. Since its launch in November 2013, the drug has been approved for up to 10 therapeutic indications across six disease areas, including five B-cell hematologic malignancies and chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Currently, both parties are advancing Imbruvica’s extensive clinical development program.

Ranking#6is AbbVie's flagship productHumira, this drug is currently the best-selling medication globally. In Europe, Humira’s sales have declined significantly due to competition from biosimilars. With the full-scale entry of biosimilar competitors into the U.S. market in 2023, Humira is poised to cede its leading position, with sales projected to drop to $10.3 billion by 2025.

Rankings7thIt is Gilead Sciences' new three-in-one HIV drug.Biktarvy, with sales projected to reach $10 billion in 2025. The drug was approved by the U.S. FDA in February 2018, and its current indications are: as a complete regimen for first-line and second-line treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and children (weighing ≥25 kg). Since its launch, Biktarvy’s sales have surged dramatically, exceeding $1 billion in its first year. In the first nine months of this year, the drug generated $3.168 billion in sales, representing a 423% increase compared to $606 million during the same period last year.

Ranked on the list8-10 participantsrespectively, Pfizer's breast cancer drugIbrance, Johnson & Johnson's immunological biologicsStelara、Eli Lilly's hypoglycemic drugsTrulicity, with projected 2025 sales of $9 billion, $7.5 billion, and $7.2 billion, respectively. Ibrance is the world’s first marketed and best-selling CDK4/6 inhibitor, achieving sales of $4.118 billion in 2018. Stelara is Johnson & Johnson’s flagship product in the field of autoimmune diseases. The drug was first launched in Canada in December 2008, reaching $5.3 billion in sales in 2018; however, its patent protection is set to expire in September 2023 in the United States and in July 2024 in the European Union. Trulicity is a once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist that was approved for marketing in September 2014, with sales amounting to $3.2 billion in 2018.

Reference source: The best-selling drugs of the next 5 years