Top 20 Best-Selling Drugs in the U.S. Market in 2018

Compiled by: newborn

In the pharmaceutical industry, the U.S. market plays a pivotal role for most global pharmaceutical companies. As the world’s largest drug market, with a size reaching $485 billion, the United States has become the preferred launch country for most new drugs. Furthermore, the U.S. is the market where pharmaceutical companies enjoy the greatest pricing autonomy. Although the country’s regulatory agencies are often criticized for delaying the approval of new drugs for various reasons, they frequently accelerate the market introduction of valuable innovative therapies.

Currently, many of the best-selling drugs globally are biologics, and the United States is a market where top-brand biologics face relatively little competition from generics. While biosimilars are significantly eroding the market share of brand-name drugs in Europe, the effective patent protection system in the U.S. market provides a safe haven for many brand-name biologics. According to the FDA database, 20 biosimilars have been approved to date, but few have successfully launched.

Recently, FiercePharma released the list of "Top 20 Best-Selling Drugs in the US Market in 2018." These drugs cover areas such as cancer, immunology, and diabetes, with biologics accounting for 13 of them. AbbVie's flagship product Humira unsurprisingly continues to dominate the top spot, with sales more than double those of Celgene’s Revlimid, which ranked second with $6.47 billion in sales. Below are the 20 drugs on this list.

Humira is also the world’s best-selling drug, with sales nearing $20 billion in 2018, of which $13.68 billion came from the U.S. market. In Europe, Humira’s sales have declined significantly due to competition from biosimilars; however, in the U.S. market, AbbVie has successfully delayed biosimilar competition until 2023. In mid-May this year, Boehringer Ingelheim and AbbVie reached a settlement in their patent litigation over Humira, marking AbbVie’s ninth consecutive victory in defending Humira’s exclusivity.

Other highlights on the list include Gilead’s HIV drug Genvoya (ranked 12th), the company’s most successful single-tablet regimen, which was launched in 2016 and achieved U.S. sales of $3.63 billion in 2018.

Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda generated $4.2 billion in U.S. sales in 2018. In its fierce competition with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s comparable product, Opdivo, Keytruda has achieved a series of successes, securing numerous indications with ease. It was also the fastest-growing drug on the list, with an impressive year-over-year growth rate of 80%.

Notably, Roche’s three blockbuster biologics all made the list: Rituxan, Herceptin, and Avastin. However, these three drugs are entering the final countdown to facing biosimilar competition in the U.S. market. Pfizer also had three drugs on the list: the antiepileptic and analgesic Lyrica, the pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13, and the breast cancer drug Ibrance. Among them, Lyrica is expected to face generic competition in the United States by the end of June this year.

Due to competition from biosimilars, U.S. sales of Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Remicade (infliximab) declined by 20%, reaching $3.7 billion in 2018. At this rate, the drug is likely to drop off the 2019 list.

Reference: The top 20 drugs by 2018 U.S. sales