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Pharma’s top 20 R&D spenders in 2021

By Brian Buntz | March 30, 2022

Pharma's top 20 R&D spenders in 2021

Pharma Industries’ top 20 RandD spenders in 2021

If 2020 underscored the importance of the pharma industry’s social importance, 2021 demonstrated the ability of R&D spenders to yield profitable commercialized products. 

But while strong demand for COVID-19 therapies in 2021 provided unprecedented revenue levels for a handful of Big Pharma companies, it didn’t result in substantial changes in R&D spending. (Look out for more insights from our annual Pharma 50 report.) 

In 2019, pharmaceutical companies spent an average of roughly 25% of their revenue on R&D, according to federal government statistics. In 2021, top R&D spenders in pharma invested closer to one-fifth of their revenue in R&D.

That’s slightly less with recent levels. Since 2010, the industry has invested about one-quarter of revenues in R&D.

[This feature is a part of 2022’s Pharma 50 series.]

While the pharma industry is clearly a global one, U.S.-based companies tend to invest the most in R&D.

The U.S. market plays an outsized role in supporting the global pharmaceutical market. It helps that FDA approvals of new drugs have ticked up in recent years, holding steady in 2021. The agency approved 50 novel drugs in 2021, which was roughly in line with the 53 drugs that won approval a year prior. 

Below are the top R&D spenders in pharma internationally:

Companies R&D Spend R&D as a percentage of revenue
1. Pfizer $13,829,000,000 17.0%
2. Roche Pharmaceuticals (division of Roche Group) $13,342,082,240 27.1%
3. Merck & Co. $12,245,000,000 25.1%
4. Janssen (Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical segment) $11,882,000,000 22.8%
5. Bristol Myers Squibb $11,354,000,000 24.5%
6. AstraZeneca $9,736,000,000 26.0%
7. Novartis $9,540,000,000 18.5%
8. AbbVie $7,084,000,000 12.6%
9. Eli Lilly $7,025,900,000 24.8%
10. Sanofi $6,716,560,000 15.1%
11. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (minus consumer segment) $6,571,776,000 14.0%
12. Gilead Sciences $5,363,000,000 19.6%
13. Amgen $4,819,000,000 18.5%
14. Takeda Pharmaceutical $4,149,672,251 14.3%
15. Bayer (Pharmaceuticals Division) $3,704,020,000 17.1%
16. Vertex Pharmaceuticals $3,051,000,000 40.3%
17. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals $2,908,100,000 18.1%
18. Novo Nordisk $2,829,936,306 12.6%
19. Biogen $2,501,200,000 22.8%
20. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany/Merck Group/EMD Group $2,434,340,000 12.8%
Top R&D spenders ranked by overall spending.

Filed Under: Drug Discovery and Development, RD
Tagged With: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Merck & Co., Novartis, Pfizer, Pharma 50, R&D spending in pharma, Roche
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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