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Sanofi poised to lead pharma sales in 2012
Sanofi will overtake Pfizer next year to become the leading pharma company by global sales, according to one analyst's predictions.
EvaluatePharma said it expects the French pharma company to take the top spot in 2012 and then hold it for the next four years, thanks to the mergers and acquisitions it has made in recent years.
The most notable of these was its $20.1bn deal to acquire US biotech Genzyme earlier this year, which saw Sanofi gain an integrated biologics unit and a lucrative presence in a number of orphan diseases.
"The takeover of Genzyme, an aggressive cross-border move, revealed just how much the culture of Sanofi has changed in the last few years," commented Dr Jonathan de Pass, CEO of EvaluatePharma. "Coming just as Pfizer loses Lipitor, the acquisition should be enough to secure Sanofi the top spot for the next few years, our data suggest."
Cholesterol-lowering drug, Lipitor (atorvastatin), is one of Pfizer's biggest selling medicines and its patent is due to expire in the US by the end of this month, when sales will fall in the face of generic competition.
World's Top 15 Pharma Companies
| Market rank | RX & OTC pharma sales ($bn) | Annual growth (per cent) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2011 | 2012 | 2014 | 2016 | 2011-16 | |
| Sanofi | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 47.9 | 51.6 | 55.4 | 58.4 | 4 |
| Novartis | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 49.5 | 49.9 | 52.2 | 54.8 | 2 |
| Pfizer | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 54.1 | 49.8 | 49.7 | 51.9 | (1) |
| GSK | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 39.3 | 41.2 | 45.6 | 50.9 | 5 |
| Roche | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 39.1 | 44.1 | 46.3 | 49.0 | 5 |
| Merck & Co | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 42.1 | 41.9 | 41.4 | 43.4 | 1 |
| Johnson & Johnson | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 24.8 | 26.5 | 29.4 | 31.5 | 5 |
| AstraZeneca | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 32.0 | 29.2 | 27.5 | 25.7 | (4) |
| Teva | 12 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 17.4 | 20.3 | 22.5 | 24.4 | 7 |
| Abbott Laboratories | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 22.5 | 23.5 | 23.7 | 24.3 | 2 |
| Bayer | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 18.9 | 19.7 | 21.7 | 23.4 | 4 |
| Takeda | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 17.0 | 18.2 | 18.7 | 20.2 | 3 |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb | 13 | 16 | 17 | 13 | 17.1 | 14.2 | 15.4 | 18.9 | 2 |
| Novo Nordisk | 17 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 12.3 | 13.6 | 16.4 | 18.9 | 9 |
| Eli Lilly | 10 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 21.5 | 20.1 | 17.6 | 17.9 | 4 |
Source: EvaluatePharma
Published: 01/11/2011
Content Area: Pharmaceutical industry articlesArticle type: Healthcare news
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