Filed under Health care, Pharmaceuticals

Abbott’s Humira world’s biggest drug by 2016

Posted May 3, 2010 at 5:06 a.m.

Dow Jones Newswires | Abbott Laboratories’ rheumatoid arthritis
treatment Humira will replace Pfizer Inc.’s cholesterol-fighting
Lipitor as the world’s biggest-selling drug in 2016, but Pfizer will
still be the biggest seller of medicines after the pharma industry
experiences its looming drug patent expiry “cliff”, according to a
report published Monday by EvaluatePharma.


EvaluatePharma’s World Preview 2016 notes that Roche Holding AG’s cancer treatment Avastin had been widely expected to emerge as the biggest blockbuster drug following patent expiry next year for Lipitor, but that Avastin’s recent clinical setbacks are likely to give the edge to Humira, which EvaluatePharma forecasts to be the top drug in 2016 with sales of $10.1 billion.

The current two top blockbusters — Lipitor and Sanofi-Aventis SA’s heart drug Plavix — lose patent protection in 2011 and 2012.

Biotech products targeting cancer and rheumatic disorders look set to dominate the scene, accounting for six of the top 10 in 2016. Only GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s respiratory medicine Advair and AstraZeneca PLC’s cholesterol fighter Crestor are seen still carrying the flame for conventional, small molecules drugs in 2016.

Turning to sector rankings, EvaluatePharma predicts U.S.-based Pfizer, through a strategy of mergers and acquisitions including last year’s $68 billion merger with Wyeth, will cling to the top spot in prescription sales. US rival Merck & Co will be a close second due to its $41 billion marriage with Schering-Plough last year.

EvaluatePharma forecasts for top 10 drugs in 2016:

1) Humira Abbott Laboratories/Eisai Arthritis

2) Avastin Roche Cancer

3) Enbrel Amgen/Pfizer/Takeda Arthritis

4) Rituxan Roche/Biogen Idec Cancer

5) Crestor AstraZeneca Cholesterol

6) Herceptin Roche Cancer

7) Remicade Johnson & Johnson Arthritis Merck & Co Mitsubishi Tanabe

8) Lantus Sanofi-Aventis Diabetes

9) Advair GlaxoSmithKline Asthma

10) Prolia Amgen/Daiichi Osteoporosis Sankyo/GlaxoSmithKline

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One comment:

  1. Everyday American May 3, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    I guess when the FDA is nothing but a rubber stamp agency, and designer drug sales are driven by how hard the corporate dope hustlers push their drugs in commercials and by giving doctors incentives to push their designer drugs on patients, these kinds of “forecasts” are easy to project. All this means is that the corporate designer drug manufacturers are going to pour more money into trying to make people think they need some other form of dope than that currently being pushed by drug dealers.