Pharma 50: the 10 fastest-growing pharma companies
It’s no surprise that developers of COVID-19 vaccines had healthy profits in 2021. Most of the fastest-growing pharma companies in 2021 saw a COVID-19 therapy of some type contribute to their bottom line.
Nevertheless, it remains difficult to fathom that BioNTech (Nasdaq:BNTX) reported annual revenue growth of 3,834.4% last year, making it the fastest-growing pharma companies of the year.
The pharma company, which jointly developed one of the most popular COVID-19 vaccines with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), had a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 319%. Pfizer’s 2021 growth rate was 95.2%.
Rival drug maker Moderna had annual revenue growth 2,199.1% in 2021 for its own COVID-19 vaccine.
[This feature is a part of 2022’s Pharma 50 series.]
Outside of vaccines, COVID-19 products such as anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies played a role in making Regeneron one of the fastest-growing pharma companies. The company had 89.1% revenue growth last year.
The market for COVID-19–related products is likely cooling, however. Analyst firm GlobalData projects sales of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid will peak at $30.7 billion in 2022 before significantly decreasing in the coming years.
Demand for COVID-19 vaccines is also may be plateauing. The U.S. has signaled its intent to recommend annual COVID-19 boosters. Meanwhile, booster fatigue remains a concern throughout much of the world.
Since last year, demand has fallen dramatically for COVID-19 vaccines made by AstraZeneca and J&J.
Below is a compiled table of the 10 fastest-growing pharma companies of 2021, ranked by year-over-year revenue growth:
| Rank | Company | Revenue growth YoY | Revenue CAGR 5-Years |
2021 revenue in billions
|
| 1 | BioNTech | 3,834.4% | 319.0% | $22.40 |
| 2 | Moderna | 2,199.1% | 207.8% | $18.50 |
| 3 | Pfizer | 95.2% | 11.5% | $81.30 |
| 4 | Regeneron | 89.1% | 28.6% | $16.10 |
| 5 | AstraZeneca | 40.6% | 13.6% | $37.40 |
| 6 | AbbVie | 22.7% | 18.8% | $56.20 |
| 7 | Merck | 17.3% | 5.0% | $48.70 |
| 8 | Lilly | 15.4% | 9.1% | $28.30 |
| 9 | J&J | 13.6% | 5.2% | $93.80 |
| 10 | Merck | 12.3% | 7.9% | $23.30 |
Filed Under: Drug Discovery and Development
