Pfizer is world's biggest spender on r&d
Pfizer has become the world's biggest spender on r&d, overtaking US automotive group Ford, according to the European Commission's latest annual scoreboard for industrial r&d investment.
Pfizer has become the world's biggest spender on r&d, overtaking US automotive group Ford, according to the European Commission's latest annual scoreboard for industrial r&d investment.
The figures, which relate to companies' spend over a one-year period, show Pfizer spent Euro 5.8bn on r&d. The biotechnology sector now holds the top position in r&d investments, having overtaken technology hardware and equipment.
For the pharmaceutical sector, the top five EU companies are ranked as follows:
- GSK - €5.13bn, a 10% increase on the previous year;
- Sanofi-Aventis - €4.4bn, up 9%;
- AstraZeneca - €2.95bn, +16%;
- Boehringer Ingelheim - €1.57bn +16%;
- and Novo Nordisk - €847m, +24%.
These companies are followed by:
- Merck - €731m, +3%;
- UCB - €615m, +20%;
- Altana - €494m, +6%;
- Lundbeck - €262m, +13%;
- and Shire - €229m, +5%.
Outside the EU the top pharma companies are:
- Pfizer - €5.8bn, up 2%;
- Johnson & Johnson - €5.4bn, +13%;
- Switzerland's Roche - €4.09bn, +16%;
- and Novartis - €4bn, +11%.
Next in the ranking are all US groups:
- Merck & Co. - €3.62bn, +24%;
- Eli Lilly - €2.37bn, +3%;
- Wyeth - €2.35bn, +13%;
- Bristol-Myers Squibb - €2.32bn, +12%;
- Abbott - €1.71bn, +24%;
- and Schering-Plough - €1.65bn, +17%.
In the biotech field, the top five r&d investors in the EU are:
- Danish company Novozymes - €118.32m, +11%;
- the UK's Merial - €110.79m, down 4%;
- Danish company Genmab - €68.83m, +16%;
- Dutch company Crucell - €67.61m, +144%;
- and the UK's Vernalis - €57.72m, +47%.
Among non-EU biotech companies, Amgen comes top with €2.55bn (+46%), followed by Biogen Idec with €544m (-4%), Genzyme with €479m (+31%), Serono with €434m (-6%) and MedImmune with €340m (+17%).