114 Blockbuster Drugs Accounted for 2006 Sales of US$ 233.7 bln

BARCELONA, Spain | July 26, 2007 | The Business Intelligence firm La Merie S.L. reported today that the HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitor atorvastatin remained the no.1 best selling blockbuster drug in 2006 with ww sales of US$ 13.6 bln for Pfizer and Astellas Pharma. Among the TOP 10 blockbuster drugs are four biologics (antibodies and proteins). A total of 114 distinct blockbuster drugs were identified with 2006 sales of more than US$ 1 bln each. Total revenues from sales of all blockbuster drugs in 2006 were US$ 233.7 bln of which 23.1 % were achieved by biologics. The best selling classes of blockbuster drugs were again HMG-Coa-reductase inhibitors of which AstraZeneca’s rosuvastatin showed the highest growth rate with 59 % over the previous year. Among the TOP 10 blockbuster drug classes were three biologics: erythropoietin, anti-TNF and insulin & insulin analogs. Blockbuster drugs were in the product portfolio of 30 biopharmaceutical companies. Pfizer was the leader in the TOP 10 class of blockbuster drug companies with sales of US$ 28.7 bln originating from nine blockbuster drugs. The TOP 10 companies had between four and 12 blockbuster drugs each to generate 2006 sales between US$ 9.4 bln and 28.7 bln per company. These results and more were found in a search conducted by La Merie Business Intelligence and published in a complimentary report on July 6, 2007. The document entitled “Blockbuster Drugs 2006” can be acquired as a free download at La Merie’s News Center and Online Store PipelineReview.com (www.pipelinereview.com).

The “Blockbuster Drugs 2006” report presents in tabular format 2006 sales figures of the 114 blockbuster drugs with sales of more than US$ 1 bln each by company and for a total of 30 companies. Further Tables summarize the TOP 10 list of companies with blockbuster drugs in 2006, the TOP 10 best selling blockbuster drug classes as an overview and the single blockbuster drugs by class. In addition, information is provided on brand and generic names, target, class of compound, originator and licensee companies, product category and major indications. All information is fully referenced by a hyperlink leading to the original source of information.

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La Merie S.L. is a Business Intelligence enterprise fully dedicated to provide high quality R&D information to the biopharmaceutical industry. La Merie offers individual consultancy services and publishes reports and periodicals. For more information visit www.lamerie.com.

About PipelineReview.com
PipelineReview.com is the News Center and Online Store of La Merie Business Intelligence focused on Research and Development in the Biopharmaceutical Industry. Visitors of PipelineReview.com will find R&D relevant press releases and can receive selected R&D news from one or more of the site’s News Channels. A free R&D Newletter conveniently brings via e-mail a daily selection of the most interesting news from biopharmaceutical R&D. For more information visit www.pipelinereview.com.