2016 industry statistics
The annual company reporting season is always an exciting period and, during the
past few weeks, most of the major pharmaceutical companies have reported
results for 2016. This has provided us with the opportunity to update our industry
statistics and drug database which always generates some interesting observations.
For an industry that requires a long investment cycle, decisions made many years’
ago have consequences on current financial performance. Being able to look at
performance over 20 years highlights how strategic decisions have panned out.
►  Global market:  The value of the global prescription drug market was estimated
to be $816bn in 2016, representing underlying growth of 4.9%. Strength of the
USD, particularly against the JPY, dented the reported figure by about $12bn.
►  US market:  The US market was a key driver of growth, rising 5.6% to $320bn in
2016, from $303bn in 2015. This was due, in part, to the positive trend in NME
approvals by the FDA over the last three years, although this was halted in 2016.
►  Company ranking:  Pfizer has returned to the #1 ranked company both globally
and in the US with a market share of 5.6% and 6.8%, respectively, having
adopted the strategy of being the leading industry consolidator over 20 years.
►  Biopharmaceuticals:  Drugs classified as biopharmaceuticals (ca.130 + vaccines)
had reported sales of $197bn in 2016, with above average growth of +7.6%.
These drugs now represent 24% of the global drug market. Within this segment,
the 61 approved drugs derived from antibodies had sales of $82bn (+15.4%).
►  Top drugs:  The biggest drug in 2016 was Humira (AbbVie) with ex-factory sales
of $16.1bn (+14%). The top 10 drugs in the world represented 25% of the entire
market. On a cumulative basis, the best-selling drug ever remains Lipitor ($152bn).
►  R&D investment:  Investment in R&D is key to future success. The top 15
companies invested $86.0bn in pharma R&D in 2016, representing 20.5% of Rx
drug sales. The highest spender was Roche at $10.3bn (22.6% of Rx sales).