CRANBURY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pharmaceutical Executive^®, a multimedia platform for industry leaders to exchange experiences and insights about innovative business and marketing ideas, has released its annual Pharma 50 list for 2020. Now in its 20th year, the comprehensive list reveals how brand surges, new ranking battles and mergers and acquisitions have reshaped company positioning. In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, a peek behind the numbers also tells another story—one that reinforces the industry’s wider health mission.

“For 20 years, Pharmaceutical Executive^®’s Pharma 50 annual list has provided an insightful look into the sales performances of the top 50 biopharma companies in the industry,” said Mike Hennessy Jr., president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences^™, the parent company of Pharmaceutical Executive^®. “This year, many of the companies that made our list are on the front lines combating the present crisis through avenues such as treatment, outreach, education and research, and we look forward to seeing them work together on product launches in the wake of COVID-19.”

Data for the Pharma 50 listings are provided in partnership with life sciences market intelligence firm Evaluate Ltd via its EvaluatePharma® service. Rankings are based on 2019 full-year prescription drug sales; the list also includes R&D spending totals for each company. The top 10 positions experienced their biggest shakeup in several years, partly impacted by a pair of recent mega mergers.

Roche, with an increase of 8.3 percent in prescription drug sales, moved up one spot to end Pfizer’s four-year reign atop the leaderboard. Avastin, accounting for 15 percent of its pharmaceutical revenue, remains the company’s top-selling medicine. Roche also spent the most on R&D, totaling $10.3 billion, the only organization to eclipse billion-dollar double-digits in R&D investment.

Coming in second was Novartis, inching up a spot from previous rankings with a 6 percent rise in drug sales. In January, Novartis completed its $9.7 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company, adding inclisiran, a potential first-in-class siRNA cholesterol-lowering therapy. Emerging growth drivers for Novartis include heart failure drug Entresto and gene therapy Zolgensma.

Rounding out the top five Pharma 50 placeholders are Pfizer, Merck & Co., and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS). BMS jumped from 11th to fifth, factoring in consensus drug sales estimates for Celgene, officially acquired for $74 billion in November after the deal was announced last January. Takeda is another new entrant into the top 10, moving from 16th to 10th behind the integration of Shire. The Japanese drug maker’s prescription drug revenue rose 67.8 percent in its first full year following the $62 billion acquisition.

To view a complete list of the Pharma 50, click here.

About Pharmaceutical Executive^®

Pharmaceutical Executive^® is a multimedia platform that offers news, opinions, analysis, features and executive profiles. The magazine and its website serve as a forum for industry leaders to exchange opinions, experiences and insights about innovative business and marketing ideas, strategies and tactics. Pharmaceutical Executive^® is a brand of MJH Life Sciences™, the largest privately held, independent, full-service medical media company in North America, dedicated to delivering trusted health care news across multiple channels.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200612005061/en/