COVID-19 pandemic crushes Big Pharma sales in Q2

Top 13 global pharmaceutical companies show underwhelming sales in the first half of the year

10 out of 13 take a fall in second quarter sales, J&J and others see two-digit percent drop

Top 13 global pharmaceutical companies and their second quarter sales growth (Unit: %) Source: respective companies

Heavily impacted by COVID-19 pandemic, the Big Pharma’s second quarter performances have been underwhelming to say the least.

 

As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 pandemic on Mar.

 

11, the number of confirmed cases in the U.S.

 

and Europe has exponentially surged and created a gap in pharmaceutical prescription.

 

Based on the analysis of top 13 global pharmaceutical companies and their sales performances on Aug.

 

3, Daily Pharm found the gross sales of those companies in last two quarters have reached USD 130.06 billion (approximately 15.53 trillion won) which was 4.3 percent less 135.63 billion dollars made in last year same time.

 

The cumulative sales in the first six months marked 266.26 billion dollars, increased by 1.1 percent from 263.3 billion dollars last year.

 

EvaluatePharma reported this year’s performance so far of the top 13 global pharmaceutical companies of 2020 (Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Roche, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences).

 

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Bayer were excluded from the analysis as they have yet to publish their second quarter outcome.

 

Top 13 global pharmaceutical companies and their first half of the year sales growth (Unit: %) Source: respective companies

The pharmaceutical market research firm stated ten out of the top 13 companies had a fall in sales volume in the second quarter compared to last year second quarter.

 

But only four companies had declined cumulative sales in the first half of the year.

 

In early 2020, the positive COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

 

and Europe were rare, but soon it skyrocketed after mid March and the critical impact in the second quarter sales was inevitable.

 

The companies with massive sales volume had more noticeable slip in sales.

 

The top three companies—J&J, Roche and Pfizer—had over 10-percent drop in the second quarter sales.

 

The patent expiration on their leading products and the pandemic worsened the sales loss and the effect extended throughout the sales reported in the first half of the year.

 

According to the sources, Pfizer took the steepest fall.

 

The last second quarter’s sales at 11.81 billion dollars was pulled down by 11.0 percent from last year second quarter at 13.26 billion dollars.

 

The company’s net profit in the same period plummeted by 32 percent and hit 3.43 billion dollars.

 

Compared to 26.38 billion dollars generated last year, the cumulative sales in the first half of the year was brought down by 9.7 percent and reached 23.83 billion dollars.

 

Pfizer’s stagnation in sales was caused not only by the pandemic, but also by the major products’ patent expiration and organization restructuring.

 

The sales volume of Upjohn plummeted by 32 percent in the second quarter as an antiseizure drug Lyrica’s (pregabalin) patent expiration in the U.S.

 

last year hugely affected the overall sales.

 

Upjohn is an independent corporation of supplying off-patent drugs and generics.

 

Also the company’s Consumer Healthcare sector’s sales were dropped from the calculation as it is in process of merge with GSK’s Consumer Healthcare sector.

 

J&J, Roche and Pfizer’s sales in 2019 and 2020 H1 (Unit: USD 1 million) Source: respective companies

Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla diagnosed, “Amid the global public health challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is actively responding with flexible management strategies and collaboration between the company and academia in the search of the vaccine.” He added “Although the sales were affected by Lyrica’s competition against generics, the sales loss was balanced out with Eliquis and Ibrance sales growing strong and the significantly improved sales in China in last second quarter.” J&J sales have also declined by 10.8 percent from 20.56 billion dollars made in second quarter last year as this year reached 18.34 billion dollars.

 

The accumulated sales in the first six months of the year have marked 39.03 billion dollars with 3.8-percent dip compared to last year.

 

Also the sharp drop in Remicade (infliximab) and Simponi (golimumab) sales have dragged the sales growth.

 

Roche reported 4.3-percent drop in cumulative sales in the first half of the year as the last second quarter marked 10.0-percent drop in sales against last year.

 

Meanwhile, AbbVie, AstraZeneca and Amgen have exceptionally shown positive growth amid COVID-19.

 

AbbVie, AstraZeneca and Amgen’s sales in 2019 and 2020 H1 (Unit: USD 1 million) Source: respective companies

For both the second quarter and the first half of the year, AbbVie demonstrated two-digit growth.

 

In the second quarter, the company made 10.43 billion dollars and leapt by 26.3 percent from 8.26 billion dollars last year.

 

The company also saw 18.4-percent growth as it accumulated 19.04 billion dollars in the first half of this year.

 

Its star product Humira’s (adalimumab) patent is still valid in the U.S.

 

and new line-ups like Skyrizi (risankizumab) and Rinvoq (upadacitinib) surged in growth, which led to a successful year so far for the company amid the pandemic.

 

Making a growth of 8 percent from last year, AstraZeneca generated 6.28 billion dollars in the second quarter.

 

The cumulative sales grew even further by 11.6 percent compared to last year.

 

AstraZeneca’s recently launched novel anticancer line-ups like Tagrisso (osimertinib), Imfinzi (durvalumab) and Lynparza (olaparib) are continuing to grow rapidly.

 

Amgen’s second quarter sales have grown 6 percent from last year with 6.21 billion dollars, and it accumulated 12.37 billion dollars in the first six months and showed off a steadfast 8.2-percent growth.

 

Regardless of off-patent drugs like Enbrel (etanercept) and Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) performed sluggishly in sales, the company launched a Herceptin generic Kanjinti, Otezla (apremilast) and Evenity (romosozumab) and unfolded a successful defense strategy.