2007 Top 20 Pharmaceutical Companies Report

Pfizer's at the top of the roost, but one hare-brained mega-acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline or Sanofi could topple them. Companies #2-5 are all foreign, but seven of the next eight are based in the U.S.; I have no idea what that's supposed to signify. Demonstrating how tough it is to stay at the top, only four companies in the top 10 reached double-digit sales growth.

The largest increase in revenues was Novartis' $3.3 billion, but almost 30% of that came from its purchase of Chiron. GSK had the greatest "organic"  growth, adding $3.0 billion in revenues. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Abbott Laboratories suffered the most last year, shedding $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion in revenues, respectively.

Several companies near the bottom of our list moved up thanks to strategic acquisitions; Bayer's purchase of Schering AG led to the biggest jump by any company on the list, from #20 to #16. Let's hope no one else gets any bright ideas . . .

—Gil Y. Roth, Editor

 

Top 20 Pharmaceutical Companies
01	Pfizer	$45,083
02	GlaxoSmithKline	$37,003
03	Sanofi-Aventis	$35,643
04	AstraZeneca	$25,741
05	Novartis	$23,532
06	Merck	$23,425
07	Johnson & Johnson	$23,267
08	Roche	$19,300
09	Wyeth	$15,683
10	Eli Lilly & Co.	$14,816
11	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$13,861
12	Abbott Laboratories	$12,395
13	Schering-Plough	$10,461
14	Boehringer-Ingelheim	$10,440
15	Takeda	$9,793
16	Bayer AG	$8,518
17	Astellas	$7,862
18	Daiichi-Sankyo	$7,166
19	Eisai	$5,589
20	Merck KgA	$4,674

Based on 2006 pharma revenues.
Note: In all Top Company profiles, dollar amounts are in millions.
For the online edition, pipeline and patent expiry info is only available for companies #1-5.

 

Contributors

Editor: Gil Y. Roth
Associate Editor: Kristin Brooks
Contributing Editor: Derek B. Lowe
All profiles written by Gil Roth, except Abbott Laboratories and Boehringer-Ingelheim, by Kristin Brooks.

All pipeline information compiled by Kristin Brooks

Photo courtesy of Bristol-Myers Squibb