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1. Pfizer
2. Novartis
3. GlaxoSmithKline
4. Merck & Co
5. Bayer
6. Roche
7. AbbVie
8. Johnson & Johnson
9. Sanofi
10. Gilead Sciences
1. Pfizer: Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German immigrants, Charles Pfizer (1824–1906) and his cousin Charles F. Erhart (1821–1891).
Pfizer develops and produces medicines and vaccines for immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology. The company has several blockbuster drugs or products that each generate more than US$1 billion in annual revenues. In 2020, 52% of the company’s revenues came from the United States, 6% came from each of China and Japan, and 36% came from other countries.
2. Novartis: Novartis International AG is a Swiss -American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (Global research). It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Novartis manufactures the drugs clozapine (Clozaril), diclofenac (Voltaren; sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2015 deal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), valsartan (Diovan), imatinib mesylate (Gleevec/Glivec), cyclosporine (Neoral/Sandimmune), letrozole (Femara), methylphenidate (Ritalin; production ceased 2020), terbinafine (Lamisil), deferasirox (Exjade), and others.
3. GlaxoSmithKline: GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, GSK was the world’s sixth largest pharmaceutical company according to Forbes as of 2019, after Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, and Merck & Co. GSK is the tenth largest pharmaceutical company and #296 on the 2019 Fortune 500, ranked behind other pharmaceutical companies including China Resources, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Sinopharm, Pfizer, Novartis, Bayer, Merck, and Sanofi.
4. Merck & Co: Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. It is named after the Merck family, which set up Merck Group in Germany in 1668. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States and Canada.
5. Bayer: Bayer AG is a German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer’s areas of business include pharmaceuticals; consumer healthcare products, agricultural chemicals, seeds and biotechnology products. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
6. Roche: F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company headquarters are located in Basel. Roche is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, and the leading provider of cancer treatments globally.
7. AbbVie: AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It originated as a spin-off of Abbott Laboratories.
8. Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is ranked No. 36 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.Johnson & Johnson is one of the world’s most valuable companies, and is one of only two U.S.-based companies that has a prime credit rating of AAA, higher than that of the United States government.
9. Sanofi: Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis and renamed to Sanofi-Aventis, which were each the product of several previous mergers. It changed its name back to Sanofi in May 2011. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
10. Gilead Sciences: Gilead Sciences, is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and COVID-19, including ledipasvir/sofosbuvir and sofosbuvir. Gilead is a member of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500.
Gilead was founded in 1987 under the name Oligogen by Michael L. Riordan. The original name was a reference to oligomers, small strands of DNA used to target genetic sequences. Gilead held its IPO in 1992, and successfully developed drugs like Tamiflu and Vistide that decade.
