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:
- Opdivo (nivolumab), Bristol-Myers Squibb, $5.684 billion
- Praluent (alirocumab), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, $4.414 billion
- LCZ-696 (sacubitril and valsartan), Novartis, $3.731 billion
- Ibrance (palbociclib), Pfizer, $2.756 billion
- Iumacaftor plus ivacaftor, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, $2.737 billion
- Viekira Pak (veruprevir, ritonavir, ombitasvir and dasabuvir), AbbVie, $2.500 billion
- Evolocumab, Amgen and Astellas Pharma, $1.862 billion
- Gardasil 9, Merck & Co., $1.637 billion
- Brexpiprazole, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Lundbeck, $1.353 billion
- Toujeo, Sanofi, $1.265 billion
- 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!
some interesting meds on that list!
LikeLike
Yes! I look forward to posting more about all of them!
LikeLike