Pharma likes to sell drugs. It’s their business. At WBC (wbcbaltimore.com), we find it interesting to compare what has been the industry’s best sellers in the past, and where the future home runs will reside. According to sales results reported by the manufacturers, here are the biggest winners ranked by lifetime sales since 1996:
Name Year Lifetime Sales (through 2012)
- Lipitor 1996 $140,750,000,000
- Plavix 1997 $ 74,744,000,000
- Seretide 2001 $ 72,249,000,000
- Remicade 1998 $ 58,426,000,000
- Embrel 1998 $ 56,632,000,000
- Zyprexa 1996 $ 56,261,000,000
- Rituxan 1997 $ 51,962,000,000
- Diovan 1997 $ 51,903,000,000
- Nexium 2001 $ 48,175,000,000
- Singulair 1998 $ 43,246,000,000
- Humira 2003 $ 42,333,000,000
- Abilify 2002 $ 41,885,000,000
- Herceptin 1999 $ 39,919,000,000
- Seroquel 1997 $ 39,764,000,000
- Avastin 2004 $ 36,572,000,000
- Crestor 2003 $ 35,598,000,000
- Lantus 2001 $ 32,895,000,000
- Januvia 2006 $ 18,896,000,000
Biologics are clearly the wave of the future. It makes up the majority of pharma’s pipeline, and will continue to grow in importance, as chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease are added to the rare disease category for specialty drug treatment.
