Last year was a positive year for biopharmaceutical companies, particularly those with COVID-19 vaccines. The majority of the top 20 innovative biopharmaceutical companies reported an increase in their revenue in 2021, with an aggregate revenue of $846.8 billion and a growth of $166.4 billion over 2020, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The top 13 players reported more than 10% year on-year (YoY) revenue growth from 2020 to 2021, according to GlobalData, while the top four biopharmaceutical companies reported over 80% year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth from 2020 to 2021. These included BioNTech (3834.4%), Moderna (2199.1%), Pfizer (95.2%) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (89.1%).

Sharon Cartic, MSc, Associate Director of Business Fundamentals at GlobalData, comments: “Owing to the huge global sales of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, the split in profits between Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty contributed towards revenues of $81.3 billion and $22.4 billion in 2021, respectively. Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax also contributed to the company’s $18.5 billion in revenue for 2021. Regeneron’s windfall of $16.1 billion in revenue for 2021 was largely due to its COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy, REGEN-COV, however, due to its ineffectiveness against the Omicron variant, its success is expected to be short lived.”

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Analyst Consensus Sales Analysis and Forecast, H1 2022’, Comirnaty is the leading prophylactic COVID-19 vaccine and recorded sales of $41.3 billion in 2021 and Moderna’s Spikevax saw sales of $17.7 billion in 2021. Pfizer reaped $36.8 billion from Comirnaty, which is the highest revenue generated from COVID-19 vaccine sales globally. Vaccine sales helped Pfizer to finish second in the top 20 list, with a YoY revenue growth of 95.2%.

AbbVie reported a 22.7% YoY growth in revenue during the same period due to its robust pipeline, with Humira topping over $20 billion sales in 2021, according to GlobalData’s Drugs Database. Upcoming biosimilar competition for Humira means AbbVie’s focus may turn to Rinvoq, which was approved in the US for atopic dermatitis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and Skyrizi, which has been approved in the US for psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis.

Bristol-Myers Squibb documented a 9.1% increase in revenue from 2020 to 2021 owing to sales of Revlimid, its multiple myeloma therapy, with a global analyst consensus sales forecast of $12.8 billion for 2021, according to GlobalData’s Drugs Database.

Cartic comments: “Amgen reported only a marginal 2.2% YoY revenue growth to $26.0 billion in 2021. However, the FDA approval of Lumakras for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in May 2021 has a global analyst consensus sales forecast of $336 million in 2022, according to GlobalData’s Drugs Database.”

All the top 20 innovative biopharmaceutical companies recorded a positive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue during 2017–21. Eight of the top companies indicated growth in their revenue over the past five years, with BioNTech (319%), and Moderna (208%) leading the list with a more than 200% CAGR, thanks to their COVID-19 vaccine franchises.

Other notable players with more than 10% CAGR in revenue include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (28.6%), Bristol-Myers Squibb (22.2%), Takeda Pharmaceutical (19.2%), AbbVie (18.8%), AstraZeneca (13.6%), and Pfizer (11.5%), fueled by a series of inorganic and organic growth initiatives.

The companies recording more than 100% YoY operating income growth in 2021 include BioNTech (18644.5%) and Moderna (1842.3%), resulting from the demand in COVID-19 vaccines.

The other notable players with high operating income were Bristol-Myers Squibb (225.8%), Pfizer (202.8%), Merck & Co (152.1%), Gilead Sciences (143.6%) and Bayer (120.7%). However, increased operating costs triggered a more than 10% YoY decline in the operating profit of AstraZeneca (-79.5%), Sanofi (-42.4%), Takeda Pharmaceutical (-25.9%), GSK (-20.8%), and Amgen (-16.4%).

In terms of profitability, 13 players reported positive YoY growth in net profit, with BioNTech (67622.7%), Gilead Sciences Inc (4961%), and Moderna (1733.3%) reporting more than 1000% YoY growth fueled by high revenue and a decline in expenses.

Novartis reported almost 200% YoY net income growth and benefited from a gain of $14.6 billion related to the divestment of its investment in Roche. AstraZeneca (-96.5%), Sanofi (-49.4%), Takeda Pharmaceutical (-38.8%), GSK (-23.7%), and Amgen (-18.9%) reported a YoY decline in their net income.

During 2017–21, revenue growth, combined with improved operational performance and reduction in expenses, led to a more than 50% increase in the net profit CAGR of J&J (100.2%), Bristol-Myers Squibb (62.3%), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (61.1%) and Merck & Co (52.8%).

Cartic concludes: “The top biopharmaceutical companies that developed effective vaccines for COVID-19 during the pandemic reaped success in 2021. Demand for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics for new variants may still be required in 2022 onwards. However, other challenges facing biopharmaceutical companies include the growing generic drug competition, which places pressure on drug prices.”