Uh-oh, Big Pharma. Generics maker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries bested all of you during the 12 months that ended September 2009. With a chart-topping 12.3 percent growth during the period, Teva raised its revenues to $15.7 billion and its ranking on the list of drugmakers to No. 11, according to newly released stats from IMS Health.
Sadly for Big Pharma, the next-fastest growing company was another midsize drugmaker: The diabetes specialist Novo Nordisk, which racked up 11.6 percent growth and $8.2 billion in revenues to take the final spot on the 20-place list. In third place by growth was Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, with a 10.4 percent rise in sales to $14.6 billion, 15th on the list.
Of the top 10 drugmakers by sales--the usual suspects, headed by Pfizer at No. 1 and Novartis at No. 2--those that managed the most growth were Roche (8.6 percent to $31.3 billion), Eli Lilly (8.3 percent to $19.6 billion), AstraZeneca (7.8 percent to $33.2 billion), and Novartis (7 percent to $36.7 billion).
You'll notice that the numbers don't give us the post-megamerger pharma landscape, because the Pfizer-Wyeth deal and the Merck-Schering-Plough merger both closed in the fourth quarter. But might we add up the numbers to get a rough idea? That would put Pfizer firmly in first place, and all things being equal, move Merck up to No. 2. See any other trends on the list?
- read the Reuters story