Pharmaceutical companies contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of society. While there are different types of pharma business, they all help in discovering, developing, and manufacturing medications. Different types of pharmaceutical companies work in various ways to create unique treatments and medicines. However, pharma companies inevitably affect almost the entire global population in some way. Further, in this article, we will be looking at different types of pharma businesses and types of pharmaceutical companies.
- What are the types of pharmaceutical products?
- What are the different types of pharmaceutical companies?
- Top 20 pharmaceutical companies list from around the world
- Which country is the largest producer of medicines?
- Which is the biggest pharma company in the world?
What are the types of pharmaceutical products?
Different types of pharmaceutical companies specialize in making different pharmaceutical formulations. Additionally, these formulations all make use of different active substances, fillers, and additives. Therefore, here’s a look at the most popular types of pharma products that pharma businesses focus on.
- Oral drugs
- Parenteral Formulations
- Topical Medicines
- Modified release Formulations
- Novel Drug Formulations
- Oncological Formulations
- Digestive system: Antacids, antiflatulents, proton pump inhibitors, laxatives, and antispasmodics.
- Cardiovascular system: Additionally, Beta-blockers, diuretics, antiarrhythmics, vasoconstrictors and vasodilators, anticoagulants and haemostatic drugs.
- Further, Nervous system: Psychedelics, hypnotics, anaesthetics, antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiepileptics, barbiturates, antihistamines.
- Immune System: Further, antibiotics, Antiviral, Anti-fungal, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-allergy
- Endocrine System: androgens, estrogens, gonadotropin, corticosteroids, thyroid hormones
What are the different types of pharmaceutical companies?
- Mainline: These are the larger drug companies that have several different drugs to their name. Moreover, these established companies, like Pfizer, have thousands of researchers working for them, and several manufacturing plants.
- Research and Development: These are smaller research organisations and pharma businesses that focus on R&D. Additionally, while they do not have drugs on the market, they help bigger firms with clinical trial observation as subcontractors on larger projects.
- Generic: Since the expiry of drug patents help in lowering the cost of manufacture, generic drug companies help mass-produce drugs. Moreover, these pharmaceutical companies do not work much on R&D but help bring patent-expired medicines to the market at lower costs.
- AI Manufacturers: These corporations produce bulk compounds, biomolecules and other AIs for drug manufacturers. Further, they also help to create vaccines, serums, and other products.
Top 20 pharmaceutical companies list from around the world
Here’s a look at the top pharmaceutical companies from before the COVID-19 situation, which has put undue stress on the industry.
Sl No | Pharma Company (2019) | Growth (% per Quarter) | Market Cap ($ billion) |
1 | Johnson & Johnson | 7.5% | 372.2 |
2 | Roche | 12.7% | 239.6 |
3 | Pfizer | -6.9% | 235.8 |
4 | Novartis | 14% | 226.3 |
5 | Merck | 7.3% | 213.3 |
6 | Eli Lilly | 9% | 133.6 |
7 | Novo Nordisk | 17% | 132.1 |
8 | AbbVie | -14.7% | 119.1 |
9 | Amgen | -5.9% | 116.8 |
10 | Sanofi | 3.9% | 115.7 |
11 | GlaxoSmithKline | 7.2% | 105.7 |
12 | AstraZeneca | 4.5% | 103.7 |
13 | Gilead Sciences | 0.3% | 81.2 |
14 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | -7.9% | 78.1 |
15 | CSL | 5.4% | 65.9 |
16 | Bayer | -4.9% | 63.4 |
17 | Celgene | 37.1% | 61.4 |
18 | Takeda Pharmaceuticals | 141.8% | 53.4 |
19 | Merck KGaA | 13% | 52.2 |
20 | Allergan | 8.1% | 48.7 |
Which country is the largest producer of medicines?
The US is the world’s largest importer of drugs, spending $99.7 billion annually on medicines. Similarly, here’s a look at the top pharma companies in terms of exporting drugs.
Sl No | Top Exporter | Money Earned ($) | Top Importer | Money Spent($) |
1 | Germany | 84.7 billion | United States | 99.7 billion |
2 | Switzerland | 71.7 billion | Germany | 53.7 billion |
3 | United States | 49.7 billion | Belgium | 36.7 billion |
4 | Belgium | 45.7 billion | United Kingdom | 33.8 billion |
5 | Ireland | 40 billion | Switzerland | 29.3 billion |
Further, here’s a look at the top countries with regards to positive net exports during 2019, which is the difference between total exports and imports.
Sl No | Country | Value |
1 | Switzerland | $26.5 billion (30.9%) |
2 | Germany | $26 billion (7.9%) |
3 | India | $13.7 billion (28%) |
4 | Ireland | $13.6 billion (-23.4%) |
5 | Denmark | $12.3 billion (9995.8%) |
Which is the biggest pharma company in the world?
Pfizer is often regarded as the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world thanks to revenue worth $53.7 billion. Additionally, the company, headquartered in Connecticut has drugs in various fields, such as immunology, neurosciences, rare diseases, and oncology. In 2018, the company received several FDA approvals, including popular medications such as Ibrance and Eliquis. However, the company has been losing brand value for the last few years now. Additionally, most experts predict that Johnson & Johnson will usurp Pfizer soon enough, with the company announcing it is working on a COVID-19 vaccine. Moreover, the company was the most profitable pharma company from 2019, with annual revenue exceeding $80bn. Therefore, the company also has the largest brand value for any pharma company, at $10.9bn, making it the new biggest pharma company in the world, followed closely by Pfizer, Roche and Bayer.