By Donald Zuhn —

Earlier this month, the monthly healthcare marketing publication Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M) announced the release of The Pharma Report 2008, MM&M’s list of the top twenty pharmaceutical companies (as determined by U.S drug sales in 2007).  According to MM&M’s report, the top twenty pharma companies for 2007 were:

1.  Pfizer – $23.52 billion
2.  GlaxoSmithKline – $20.14 billion
3.  Merck & Co. – $17.64 billion
4.  Johnson & Johnson – $16.28 billion
5.  AstraZeneca – $15.47 billion
6.  Amgen – $14.34 billion
7.  Novartis – $13.92 billion
8.  Sanofi-Aventis – $10.87 billion
9.  Eli Lilly and Co. – $10.28 billion
10.  Abbott Labortories – $9.06 billion
11.  Genentech – $8.76 billion
12.  Wyeth – $8.61 billion
13.  Teva Pharmaceuticals USA – $7.93 billion
14.  Bristol-Myers Squibb – $6.87 billion
15.  Boehringer Ingelheim – $5.76 billion
16.  Schering-Plough – $4.69 billion
17.  TAP Pharmaceuticals – $4.54 billion
18.  Forest Laboratories – $3.87 billion
19.  Hoffman-LaRoche – $3.58 billion
20.  Takeda Pharmaceutical – $3.51 billion

MM&M also took the opportunity to discuss the state of the pharma industry, noting that the U.S. drug market grew by only 3.8% in 2007 as a result of the loss of product exclusivity, low levels of product growth, and safety concerns.  Diana Conmy, of IMS Health (a pharmaceutical and healthcare consulting company), noted that "if you look at the top five companies, they are the folks that (also) have big blockbusters going off patent," and that "some of the safety issues are also prevalent within the top 10."  MM&M predicted that as larger drug makers are impacted by a number of 2008 patent expirations (see Figure 10 from the report; shown below), "smaller or mid-size drug companies may be better positioned to take advantage of the current marketplace due to their involvement in specialist-driven areas."

The Pharma Report 2008, Medical Marketing & Media.

The report also included a list of the top twenty prescription drugs by U.S. sales (see Figure 2 from the report) and a list of the top twenty therapeutic categories by U.S. sales (see Figure 3 from the report; shown below).

The Pharma Report 2008, Medical Marketing & Media.