The biopharmaceutical industry had an exceptional year in 2022 with notable success for those with COVID-19 vaccines. The majority (15) of the top 20 publicly traded global innovative biopharma companies reported a 5.2% growth in the aggregate revenue to $868.97 billion from 2021 to 2022, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
Global Biopharma Companies Report YoY Growth
GlobalData reveals that Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK) reported YoY revenue growth of 25.7%, 23.4% and 21.7%, respectively, in 2022. Pfizer finished first in the top 20 list with a revenue of $100.3 billion and a growth of $19 billion over 2021 driven by the strong sales of Paxlovid, Prevnar 20, Comirnaty, Vyndaqel and Eliquis.
Ophelia Chan, MSc, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “As a result of Pfizer’s huge success of COVID-19 vaccines sales, its BioNTech-partnered vaccine, Comirnaty, contributed to 38% of its total revenue, achieving global sales of $37.8 billion. The sales of their antiviral treatment, Paxlovid, surged to $18.9 billion in 2022.”
Novo Nordisk’s top revenue growth was attributed to the sales in its Diabetes and Obesity care franchises. The blockbuster type 2 diabetes drug, Ozempic, recorded sales of $8.45 million in 2022 and is expected to achieve a global analyst consensus sales forecast of $17.1 million by 2029, according to GlobalData’s Drugs database.
Merck & Co’s growth in revenue was primarily due to the sales of its immunotherapy oncology drug Keytruda and its COVID-19 drug, Lagevrio.
GlobalData’s report, “Pharmaceutical Drugs Development Annual Review, Sales and Forecast, Key Trends and Competitive Analysis-2022,” reveals that both Keytruda and Lagevrio witnessed sales growth of 22% and 497%, respectively, generating $20.9 billion and $5.7 billion in drug sales revenue in 2022.
Chan comments: “BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) recorded a slight YoY revenue decline of 8.8% and 2.1%, respectively, in 2022. Lower sales for their COVID-19 vaccine worldwide contributed to BioNTech’s revenue decrease in 2022. However, both BioNTech and Pfizer are currently awaiting regulatory review and approval from the FDA for their Omicron XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccine, which may help to boost their revenues.”
Nine of the top 20 companies demonstrated compound revenue growth rates (CAGR) exceeding 10% over the past five years. Notably, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) (245.6%) and BioNTech (241.3%) maintained their positions as frontrunners on the list with more than 200% CAGR, thanks to their COVID-19 vaccine franchises.
Other top players with more than 10% CAGR in revenue include Pfizer (25.2%), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) (19.6%), AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) (19%), Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) (17.7%), AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) (15.4%), Novo Nordisk (12.2%) and Merck KGaA (ETR:MRK) (10.6%).
More than half of the top 20 innovative biopharma companies achieved greater than 10% operating profit growth in 2022 with significant increase by AstraZeneca (255.8%), Bayer (109.2%) and Pfizer (54.5%) driven by increased cash flows, strong divisional performance and higher revenues with reduced in-process research and development (IPR&D) expenses, respectively. On the other hand, Moderna (-29.5%), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) (-26.1%) and Novartis (-21.3%) reported more than 20% decline in their operating profit in 2022.
In terms of profitability, six out of the top 20 companies reported over 25% growth in net profit, with AstraZeneca (2835.7%), Bayer (315%) and GSK (241.1%) reporting more than 100% YoY growth. AstraZeneca’s growth was driven by the increase of total comprehensive income by $2.4 billion, including actuarial gains of $1.1 billion. Bayer’s (ETR:BAYN) growth was attributed to strong divisional sales with GSK’s (LON:GSK) growth due to the inclusion of gains from the demerger of the Consumer Healthcare business to form Haleon.
Seven players reported YoY decline in profitability, with Novartis (-71%), Moderna (-31.5%) and Gilead Sciences Inc (-26.2%) reporting more than 25% YoY decline, due to Novartis’ divestment from Roche and Moderna’s operational income decline amid reduced demand for COVID-19 vaccines.
Although Gilead Sciences reported only a marginal decline in revenue, it’s decrease in operating income (-26.1%) and net income (-26.2%) was primarily due to IPR&D expenses of $2.7 billion related to assets acquired from Immunomedics, and $406 million related to the termination of Gilead’s collaboration with Everest for the development of Trodelvy, as well as increased R&D expenses in 2022.
Chan concludes: “The top biopharma companies that have developed effective vaccines for COVID-19 during the pandemic have continued to reap the successes overall. The biopharmaceutical industry, however, faces ongoing challenges including inflationary pressures and loss of exclusivity for major products.”
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