Blockbusters drugs account for a third of global pharmaceutical sales
URCH report highlights reliance big pharma has on billion dollar sellers.
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS with sales of more than US$1 billion a year account
for more than one third of the total market for pharmaceuticals, highlights a
new report from URCH Publishing. "Pharmaceutical
Market Trends, 2006-2010: Key market forecasts and growth opportunities"
identifies 100 drugs classed as blockbusters which account for 34 percent of
the pharmaceutical market by value.
The top seller was Lipitor a cholesterol-lowering medication marketed by
Pfizer with sales of US$12,187 million, while the fastest growing drug last
year was another cholesterol treatment Vytorin, co-marketed by Merck and
Schering-Plough, which saw a 678% increase in sales to pass the billion dollar
mark.
A total of 14 blockbusters had falling sales in 2005, but this was countered
by 16 products that achieved blockbuster status.
The largest pharmaceutical corporations have become increasingly reliant on
mega-selling brands to deliver profits, however they are in a potentially
exposed position should revenue substantially fall. For example, last year saw
sales of Pfizer's osteoarthritis treatment Celebrex fall by 47 percent over
safety concerns after the highly publicised withdrawal of Merck's Vioxx.
Pfizer products generated 14 percent of blockbuster sales and accounted for 63
percent of the firm's sales, says the 170 page report.
Blockbusters are dominated by more mature products, those that have been
approved for marketing for between five and ten years. "Blockbuster sales
continue to be dominated by traditional drugs, with therapeutic biologics
accounting for just 17.2% of total blockbuster sales revenue in 2005," said
Steve Seget, the report's author.
The report methodology provides a detailed but transparent analysis of key
pharmaceutical market trends, including key markets, therapy areas, products
and companies. Historical trends are formed over a three-year time horizon and
future forecasts are made using a five-year future time period. Thus, the data
and analysis relate to the eight-year time horizon from 2003 to 2010.
Go to report
Pharmaceutical Market Trends, 2006-2010
