- The main objective of a pharmaceutical company is to convert a chemical formula into a new drug, although they are also in charge of the development of medical devices and personal care products.
- The company that tops the list of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world has annual revenues of 81.3 billion dollars.
- The Covid-19 vaccine has become a million-dollar business for several companies.
The health industry has established itself as one of the most important today. Everything has its origin in the situation caused by the most serious pandemic in the last 100 years. At the same time, the problem has been one of the impulses behind what are now considered the largest pharmaceuticals in the world. In all cases they have seen a significant increase in their income in recent years.
What does a pharmacist do?
In this sense, the relevance of this field is generated by the work carried out by the sector. Roughly, A pharmacist is in charge of converting a chemical formula into a medicine. Although it is said to be too easy, in reality it is a rather complex process that requires millions of investments and for which years of study are needed.
Just to give you an idea, the average time for the development of a new drug is 10 years. That period spans from the research stage to testing in animal models and clinical trials in humans.
For his part, out of every 100 new drug proposals, only five or fewer make it through all the tests and are marketed. The vast majority do not reach the last stages because they do not meet the requirements of sufficient efficacy and safety.
The companies that dominate the field of health
However, there are different ways to compare the pharmaceutical companies and determine which are the largest in the world. In this case, a fairly simple one is through your annual earnings and there is a wide winner. In accordance with Statistathe American Pfizer was the one that obtained the most revenue throughout 2021 with 81.3 billion dollars.
This is not surprising when you consider that two of its flagship products achieved record sales last year. On the one hand, there is the BNT162b2 or Comirnaty vaccine against Covid-19 that is currently applied in more than 80 countries. But there is also the oral medication Paxlovid that works to prevent serious symptoms of this same disease.
In the same ranking of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, it appears in second position AbbViewhich is part of Abbott Laboratories, with revenues of $56.2 billion. Within its catalog stand out drugs against cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and other autoimmune.
While on the third rung is johnson&johnson, which has also obtained multimillion-dollar income thanks to its vaccine against Covid-19. In his case, it is also a company that stands out for its development of medical devices and personal care products. Overall, during 2021 it achieved revenues of $52.8 billion.
While slightly below appears the Swiss Novartis. Within its offer there are medicines against breast cancer, age-related macular degeneration, chronic myeloid leukemia, and asthma. For all of the above, its annual revenue is around 51.6 billion dollars.
Finally, the top 10 of the largest pharmaceuticals in the world is completed with Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline.
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