Humira to assume Lipitor's crown as Pfizer feels the heat from Sanofi and Novartis

29 June 2011

Rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira (adalimumab) from Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) will assume Lipitor's (atorvastatin) crown as the world's biggest selling drug, while the latter’s maker Pfizer will cling on to its ranking as the biggest seller of prescription medicines through to 2016, according to the World Preview 2016 (second edition) report published today by EvaluatePharma, the provider of pharma and biotech analysis.

Lipitor's patent expiry this year precipitates the steepest decline in the industry's patent cliff, with $139 billion predicted to be lost from sales of branded drugs between 2011 and 2016, equal to 20% of the global pharmaceutical market last year. Meanwhile, the race for the pharmaceutical sales top spot is going to be close, with Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) and Novartis (NOVN: VX) breathing down Pfizer's neck - all three companies are expected to have prescription drug sales in the region of $50 billion by 2016, the EvaluatePharma report shows.

Clinging on

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