11 Blockbuster Drugs for 2015 – What Are They and Who Is Making Them?

I’ve been reading a lot about this Thomson Reuters analysis about this year’s predicted blockbuster drugs (i.e., drugs predicted to make over $1 billion in US dollars). Their track record is pretty solid given they predicted big things for Gilead Sciences’ oral drug Sovaldi (sofosbuvir)/Harvoni (sofosbuvir plus ledipasvir) for hepatitis C viral infection, GlaxoSmithKline/Theravance’s Anoro Ellipta (umeclidinium plus vilanterol) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and Gilead’s Zydelig (idelalisib) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and all are still predicted to gross over one billion US dollars. Here’s this year’s list in descending order of predicted sales:

1. Opdivo (nivolumab), Bristol-Myers Squibb, $5.684 billion
2. Praluent (alirocumab), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, $4.414 billion
3. LCZ-696 (sacubitril and valsartan), Novartis, $3.731 billion
4. Ibrance (palbociclib), Pfizer, $2.756 billion
5. Iumacaftor plus ivacaftor, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, $2.737 billion
6. Viekira Pak (veruprevir, ritonavir, ombitasvir and dasabuvir), AbbVie, $2.500 billion
7. Evolocumab, Amgen and Astellas Pharma, $1.862 billion
8. Gardasil 9, Merck & Co., $1.637 billion
9. Brexpiprazole, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Lundbeck, $1.353 billion
10. Toujeo, Sanofi, $1.265 billion
11. Cosentyx, Novartis, $1.082 billion

I want to investigate these medications in a series of blog posts – what is the science behind these medications, are they efficacious, do they represent a significant improvement over the standard of care? I hope this will be just as informative to my readers as it will be for me!