The top 20 drugs by worldwide sales in 2023

28 May 2024
www.fiercepharma.com
Drug Approval
The top 20 drugs by worldwide sales in 2023
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Source: FiercePharma
While Merck's Keytruda took over the top spot last year, Novo Nordisk's popular Ozempic catapulted up the list.
It's been several years since COVID-19 vaccinesCOVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna jumped to the top of the pharma industry's sales charts, displacing longtime stalwarts with unprecedented sales. But, as 2023 featured major patent expirations, the rise of weight loss drugs and other new dynamics, the year’s ranking of the top 20 drugs by global sales featured its fair share of surprises.
Merck’s oncology king Keytruda rose to the top last year, adding yet another feather in its cap. With more than 30 indications across various cancer types and stages, the PD-L1 inhibitor shows no signs of stopping.
With $25 billion in global sales, the drug accounted for about 40% of Merck’s total revenue last year. Keytruda's sales are expected to reach $30 billion this year.
Keytruda had previously fallen right behind AbbVie's Humira, which held the title of the world’s bestselling drug for nine years in a row until Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty knocked AbbVie’s Humira off its perch in 2021.
Now at No. 2 on the list, Humira has managed to keep a top spot after facing an influx of biosimilar competition following its U.S. loss of exclusivity. Other meds that have faced recent copycat competition can’t say the same, such as Bristol Myers Squibb’s Revlimid.
After comfortably being a top 5 medicine for years, Revlimid started facing generics in 2022, and, last year, the copycats pushed the blood cancer med all the way down to the bottom of the list at 19. In just two years, Revlimid’s yearly sales were nearly halved.
Aside from the usual suspects near the top of the list, such as BMS and Pfizer’s blood thinner Eliquis and Gilead Sciences' leading HIV med Biktarvy, a new entry from Novo Nordisk reflects perhaps the year’s hottest drug arena.
Ozempic and its semaglutide-based counterparts were the names on everybody’s lips last year, putting a major spotlight on the obesity field and prompting a wave of drugmakers to scramble to develop their own offerings.
Novo’s Ozempic has been approved by the FDA to treat Type 2 diabetes since 2017, but it has rapidly gained popularity in recent years for its weight loss benefits. The fervent demand spread to other meds in the class, and, now, Novo markets a dedicated obesity brand in Wegovy.
It's likely that 2024’s rankings will include more drugs from the GLP-1 drug class. GLP-1 products are expected to take the baton for the bestselling drug class from PD-1 inhibitors this year with close to $50 billion in annual sales, GlobalData has predicted.
Other new additions to the top 20 drug rankings include Novartis’ heart med Entresto and AbbVie’s Skyrizi, which is in line to surpass Humira sales as early as this year.
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