Biotechnology Article based on Pharmabiz (Source)
If you add up the R&D budgets for the top 15 public biotechs in the world, you will discover a tab that runs right about $10 billion. That's not chickenfeed, by hook or by crook, but to put it in some position, it is interesting to note that Roche, which has the largest research budget for any biopharma on the planet, spent a bit more than that last year advancing new drugs and technology.
Having noted that, I believe that a combination of the peak projected sales for all the experimental drugs you'll find in the biotech pipeline beneath would rival all that Roche is processing.
For year 2011, we have decided to sharpen the focus for our report on the biggest biotech R&D spenders. We've excluded some of the tool and tech companies that were on last year's Top 15 report so we can devote our attention to drug discovery and development.
M&A activity is also transforming the top 15 biotech companies on the list. These are 2010 numbers, so Genzyme is still with us for the last time. Next year, look for it under the Sanofi banner. I dropped OSI Pharma, which was taken over by Astellas in a $4 billion deal last year 2010. Abraxis BioScience is also gone, bought up by fast-growing Celgene, which jumps to third place in this new lineup. Genmab dropped off the list as it cut R&D costs down to $103 million.
I made an executive decision to play with the list a little as well. While the EU included Switzerland's Actelion as a pharma company, I see it as more of a biotech, rushing to see if a Phase III study of a lead program can give it a replacement for the steadily fading blockbuster that has funded the company's R&D operations. Failure is not an option, but it is a distinct possibility, and a high-stakes development program like that can't be ignored. Also, Exelixis was inexplicably listed under pharma.
With all the M&A activity that has dominated the biopharma industry over the past year, it will be interesting to see who will be added when we come back in 2012.
Amgen - $2.8Billions (€2.15Billion)
Biogen Idec - $1.25Billion (€930Million)
Celgene - $1.13Billion (€833Million)
Gilead Sciences - $1.07Billion (€789Million)
Genzyme - $866.6Million (€628Million)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals - *$637.4Millions (€463.6Million)
Actelion - $539Million (CHF 484.3Million)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals - $489Million
CSL - $334Million (€242Million)
Exelixis - $210.7Million (€153Million)
United Therapeutics - $171Million (€124Million)
Cubist Pharmaceuticals - $161.4Million (€117Million)
Amylin Pharmaceuticals - $157.3Million (€114Million)
BioMarin Pharmaceutical - $147.3Million (€109.3Million)
Seattle Genetics - $146.4Million (€109.1Million)
