Blockbusters account for a third of global pharmaceutical sales

Blockbusters with sales of more than US$1bn a year account for more than one third of the total market for pharmaceuticals, highlights a new report from URCH Publishing. "Pharmaceutical Market Trends, 2006-2010: Key market forecasts and growth opportunities" identifies 100 drugs classed as blockbusters, which account for 34% of the pharmaceutical market by value.

The top seller was Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering medication marketed by Pfizer with sales of US$12,187m, while the fastest growing drug last year was another cholesterol treatment, Vytorin, co-marketed by Merck and Schering-Plough, which saw a 678% increase in sales to pass the billion dollar mark. A total of 14 blockbusters had falling sales in 2005 but this was countered by 16 products that achieved blockbuster status.

The largest pharmaceutical corporations have become increasingly reliant on mega-selling brands to deliver profits, however, they are in a potentially exposed position should revenue substantially fall. For example, last year saw sales of Pfizer's osteoarthritis treatment Celebrex fall by 47% over safety concerns after the highly publicised withdrawal of Merck's Vioxx. Pfizer products generated 14% of blockbuster sales and accounted for 63% of the firm's sales, says the report.

Many of the blockbusters are regared as mature products, those that have been approved for marketing for between five and ten years. "Blockbuster sales continue to be dominated by traditional drugs, with therapeutic biologics accounting for just 17.2% of total blockbuster sales revenue in 2005," said Steve Seget, the report's author.

The report also provides analysis of key pharmaceutical market trends, including key markets, therapy areas, products and companies. It is available from URCH Publishing and details can be found at www.urchpublishing.com/publications/general/pharma_trends_00.