Top 20 Largest Biomedical companies by revenue in Billions USD from 2012 to 2021
Here is a fun visualization of the largest biomedical companies by revenue between 2012 and 2021.
Visualizations like this help people understand just how much has changed over the last decade. Many of the same familiar names remain on the list year after year. As with any industry, there are new entrants.
While people love to discuss the list of the top players, whether it be in sports or in business, it is a subjective process. I got my info from wikipedia. The particular wiki page was well researched, but what is the definition of biomedical revenue? Johnson & Johnson has part of its profits within its medical devices arm. This is the reason sometimes when looking at the top list, depending on whether med device revenue is included or not, J&J may not be listed at the top.
Very interesting to me is that Pfizer, which for many years was considered the biggest in the industry, grew smaller in size before appearing near the top again. If 2022 numbers were released, it will be near the top due to revenue from its COVID vaccine treatment.
The animation above needs a bit of a disclaimer. The company from 2012 may not be in the same form as the company with the same name in 2021. Notably, Pfizer divested parts of its business: its consumer arm to merge with GSK consumer, and its UpJohn business to merge with Mylan.
During the years immediately after its divestiture, Pfizer shrunk in size. However, this strategic move paid off. In the book Moonshot, Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible, Pfizer’s CEO Dr. Bourla said it best. They did not want to be just the biggest. They wanted to be the best. Since they were able to focus on innovation, they were able to partner with BioNTech and develop one of the top COVID vaccines which added many billions to their revenue.
Other notable new entries include Sinopharm. It came from nowhere to near the top 2 or 3 in recent years. It often is not discussed since its operations and sales is restricted mostly to China. But wow, their revenue growth is impressive.
