Pharmaceutical Technology's Second Annual Manufacturers' Rankings reveal key trends about the pharmaceutical industry's sales growth, product and company
positioning, and the manufacturing activity of the top companies. Led by a recovery in the US market, global pharmaceutical
sales growth increased at a healthy rate in 2006, although the industry still has not returned to the double-digit growth
it once enjoyed. The top 10 product rankings for the global and US markets remained fairly steady, although 2006 saw the entry
of two biologic-based products in the global top 10. On the innovation front, the number of new molecular entities (NMEs)
from Big Pharma continues to be modest. The manufacturing activity of the pharmaceutical majors reflects these trends as companies
proceed with expansions in biologics manufacturing and rationalize small-molecule capacity.
Pharmaceutical industry growth
Table I: Global pharmaceutical sales, 1999–2006.
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The global pharmaceutical market grew 7.0% (measured in constant US dollars) to $643 billion in 2006, according to IMS Health
(Plymouth Meeting, PA), slightly above the 6.8% growth of 2005, when the global market reached $601 billion. (Pharmaceutical
sales figures are measured in current US dollars, include prescription and certain over-the-counter data, and reflect ex-manufacturer
prices.) In 2006, North America, which accounts for 45% of the global pharmaceutical market, grew 8.3% to $290.1 billion,
up from 5.4% in 2005, according to IMS Health. Despite the stronger contribution from the North American market, 2006 was
the third consecutive year of single-digit revenue growth for the global pharmaceutical industry (see Table I), following
five years of double-digit growth from 1999 to 2003.
Product positioning for the top spots
Global sales. On a sales basis, the top 10 selling products accounted for $60 billion or nearly 10% of the global market, according to
IMS. Sales of the top 10 global products grew 8% in 2006, slightly above the 7% growth for the global pharmaceutical industry
as a whole (see Table I).
Table II: Top 10 products by global sales.*
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Eight products—Pfizer's "Lipitor," AstraZeneca's "Nexium," GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) "Seretide–Advair," Sanofi-Aventis's and
Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) "Plavix," Pfizer's "Norvasc," Eli Lilly's "Zyprexa," Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) "Risperdal," and
Wyeth's "Effexor"—retained their spots among the top 10 global pharmaceuticals in 2006 (see Table II). Amgen's "Aranesp" and
Amgen's and Wyeth's "Enbrel" were two new biologic additions to the top 10 in 2006. Falling out of the top 10 were Merck &
Co.'s "Zocor" (simvastatin) and TAP Pharmaceutical Products's "Ogastro–Prevacid" (lansoprazole).
