New Report Shows Commercial Prospects for the 20 Leading Biopharmaceutical Companies

Monday 24 September 2012, Amsterdam

A new report by visiongain assesses prospects for the leading 20 biopharma companies worldwide. Top pharmaceutical companies have consolidated their hold on the market by buying up most of the leading biotech products and platforms, according to Pharma Leader Series: Top 20 Biological Drug Manufacturers 2012-2022.

A recent study predicts revenues to 2022 for the leading companies and discusses their prospects. Roche continues to lead the market via its Genentech-developed biologics portfolio, but other multinationals are following. Top 10 players, according to the report’s analysis, include Sanofi, which acquired Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, which this summer completed a takeover of Human Genome Sciences, and Pfizer, which bought Wyeth in 2009 to expand its capacities in vaccines and biologics.

Dr James Evans, a pharmaceutical industry analyst, said: “The pharmaceutical industry is continuing to absorb the healthcare biotech industry. Amgen is still an independent biotech, but it is diversifying into generics, so the distinction between the two types of companies is being eroded from both sides. With biologics set to be the first, second and third bestselling pharmaceuticals of 2012, the competition for the biologics market is intense, and the coming of biosimilars is going to make it fiercer, by lowering the entry barriers for developing a biological drug.

“The biologics market is growing faster than the broader pharmaceutical market, and growth rates will be sustained through to 2022, our analyses show. Newer biological formats such as antibody-drug conjugates, therapeutic vaccines and cellular therapies will compensate for slowdown and contraction in areas such as erythropoietin and interferons. There will be hot competition in insulins, recombinant coagulating factors and mAbs, as companies battle for these lucrative market areas.”

That new report forecasts that the biologics market will continue to expand rapidly to 2022, with leading pharma companies increasingly basing their growth strategies on opportunities in the biologics sector.