A total of eleven blockbusters with 2019 sales forecasted to exceed US $1 billion will enter the market this year (see table below for details). Only six such products were launched in 2014.

 

Ranking, by highest sales forecast for 2019

Drug

Disease

Pharmaceutical Company

2019 Forecast Sales (US $ billions)

1

Opdivo (nivolumab)

melanoma

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)

5.684

2

Praluent (alirocumab)

hypercholesterolemia

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi

4.414

3

LCZ-696 (sacubitril and valsartan)

chronic heart failure

Novartis

3.731

4

Ibrance (palbociclib)

breast cancer

Pfizer

2.756

5

lumacaftor plus ivacaftor

cystic fibrosis

Vertex Pharmaceutical

2.737

6

Viekira Pak (veruprevir, ritonavir, ombitasvir and dasabuvir)

hepatitis C

AbbVie

2.500

7

evolocumab

hypercholesterolemia/ hyperlipidemia

Amgen and Astellas Pharma

1.862

8

Gardasil 9

vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) infection

Merck & Co

1.637

9

brexpiprazole

schizophrenia and depression

Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Lundbeck

1.353

10

Toujeo (new-formulation insulin glargine)

diabetes

Sanofi

1.265

11

Cosentyx (secukinumab)

psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Novartis

1.082

 

Among the key trends of 2015 are the rise of immune-oncology cancer treatments, the new generation of hypercholesterolemia drugs, the new heart failure combination and novel hepatitis C therapies.

BMS drug Opdivo will be competing against another PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab, MSD). Sanofi/Regeneron and Amgen/Astellas’s PCSK9 inhibitors, Praluent and evolocumab, will dominate top positions in the rating of cholesterol-lowering medications. LCZ-696 is the first of its kind agent for heart failure treatment. It is a combination of a cardioprotective neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril and an angiotensin receptor blocker valsartan. Pfizer’s Ibrance is a cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor indicated for breast cancer in women. Ibrance is expected to become a treatment of choice pending additional phase III results. Lumacaftor plus ivacaftor combination is a new cystic fibrosis drug from Vertex forecasted to surpass Kalydeco (ivacaftor), which sold US $464 million in 2014 and is expected to top US $1 billion in 2019.

Far more blockbusters will enter the market place this year than in 2014. It remains to be seen whether this signifies anything about the state of pharmaceutical development or the future of the blockbuster model.

Sources: Thomson Reuters, EvaluatePharma®, Pharmvestnik, Remedium