In the first quarter of 2021, these drugs are the best sellers!

The top three products: AbbVie’s adalimumab sales were US$4.867 billion in the first quarter; Merck’s pembrolizumab sold a total of US$3.899 billion; Bristol-Myers Squibb’s lenalidomide was sold. 2.944 billion US dollars.

Based on the current situation, it is speculated that the sales of Xiu Meile for the whole year of 2021 will not be much different from last year, maintaining at the level of 20 billion U.S. dollars. The potential of Kerida (K drug), which is dubbed as the "King of Indication Development" in the industry, has greatly released its sales revenue this year, which may exceed US$20 billion. It is expected to replace Xiumile and become the next-generation drug king. The leader in the field of anticoagulation, Elto, has received a report card of US$2.886 billion in Q1 of 2021. With such an increase, it is expected to step into the ranks of tens of billions by the end of the year. In addition, BMS's Odivo (commonly known as "O medicine") may be affected by similar competing products, and sales have dropped slightly...

01 Adalimumab

Commodity name: Xiu Meile Original research manufacturer: AbbVie

Q1 sales in 2021: US$4.867 billion

Adalimumab was developed by Abbvie under the trade name "Humira". It was approved by the FDA in December 2002, EMA in September 2003, and PMDA in April 2008.

Approved indications mainly include ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, skin suppurative hidradenitis, uveitis, etc.

At present, the sales and revenue of "Adalimumab", which has been firmly on the throne of the global "pharmaceutical king" for 9 consecutive years, only declined in 2019. With the approval of new clinical indications of the product in 2020, sales will also be correspondingly stable. With growth, we look forward to another success in 2021.

02 Pembrolizumab

Commodity name: Kerida Original research manufacturer: Merck

Q1 sales in 2021: $3.899 billion

Pembrolizumab (commonly known as drug K) is a PD-1 antibody that has been approved by the FDA for 23 tumor indications. In February 2018, it became the first-line treatment for renal cell carcinoma.

In September of the same year, Kerida entered the Chinese market and achieved breakthrough growth in sales, bringing Merck & Co.’s revenue of 7.171 billion U.S. dollars (almost double the 3.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2017). It broke out again in 2019, surpassing the 10 billion U.S. dollar mark (up to 11.048 billion U.S. dollars) with a growth rate of 54.1%, surpassing lenalidomide and climbing to the second place on the global drug bestseller list.

With the approval of more new indications, K drug has achieved sales of 14.38 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, and in Q1 of 2021, it has achieved sales of 3.899 billion U.S. dollars, which has great potential. According to EvaluatePharma's prediction, by 2023, Creta will replace Humira and become the next-generation "drug king" of the world's best-selling drugs, with revenues of US$21.3 billion.

But it is undeniable that if it were not for BMS to take over the development of O drugs, MSD’s K drugs would not be able to achieve such an achievement in a short period of time. Strong competitors in the product pipeline can inspire fighting spirit, which is still the case today.

03 Lenalidomide

Commodity name: Ruifumei Original manufacturer: BMS

Q1 sales in 2021: $2.944 billion

The original research drug of lenalidomide was developed by Xinji and belongs to the immunomodulator class of anti-tumor drugs.

In 2018, lenalidomide capsules ranked first in the top 10 best-selling anti-tumor drugs with a sales of 9.685 billion US dollars. In 2020, lenalidomide capsules ranked third in the world's top 10 best-selling drugs with sales of 12.106 billion US dollars. In recent years, the global sales of this product have maintained double-digit growth, and the market potential is full.

Domestic imitation companies: Shuanglu, Tianqing, Qilu, Yangtze River, and Hausen have entered the game one after another, and have successively passed the consistency evaluation, further impacting the original research's over 50% market share.

Commodity name: Ai Leto Original manufacturer: BMS

Q1 sales in 2021: US$2.886 billion

Apixaban is a direct inhibitor of oral coagulation factor Xa jointly developed by BMS and Pfizer. The drug was initially approved for marketing in the European Union in May 2011 and is mainly used for the prevention of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery.

BMS has said that Apixaban still has a lot of room for growth. In terms of safety, reduction of bleeding risk and side-effect control, apixaban has shown obvious advantages among similar drugs, and it is these factors that will greatly drive the growth of its market. It is predicted that by 2021, the sales of Apixaban will exceed the "10 billion mark", with revenue approaching 12 billion U.S. dollars.

In August 2020, Apixaban tablets were shortlisted for the third batch of national drug purchases. Hausen, Qilu, Jiangsu Jiayi and Chia Tai Tianqing all successfully won the bid with a decrease of more than 87%. With the implementation of national procurement, the price-for-quantity approach will set off a "climax" of sales within a certain period of time, and the prospect is still worth looking forward to.

05 Nivolumab

Commodity name: Odivo Original manufacturer: BMS

Q1 sales in 2021: $1.950 billion

Nivolumab (commonly known as O drug) is the first PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor to be marketed and the first PD-1 monoclonal antibody to be marketed in China. So far 9 tumor indications have been approved by the FDA: malignant melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck cancer, renal cell carcinoma, classic Hodgkin's lymphoma, urothelial cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma cancer.

According to the 2018 Bristol-Myers Squibb financial report, Odivo sold $6.735 billion, accounting for 30% of Bristol-Myers Squibb's total revenue. O medicine took the lead in occupying the cancer market by virtue of its first-launch advantage. However, in the 2018 PD-1/PD-L1 drug struggle, it was overtaken by K drug. Due to the rapid expansion of indications for drug K in recent years, drug O is updated in March 2020 for indications: Nivolumab combined with Ipilimumab for second-line hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that has previously been treated with sorafenib.

Affected by similar products, the sales of O medicine in the global market dropped slightly. However, in China, this product is in a stage of rapid increase in volume. In 2019, the sales data of urban public hospitals was about 400 million yuan, an increase of 76.39% year-on-year; in 2020, about 600 million yuan of sales revenue was accounted for, an increase of 34.79%.

It is reported that the effect of nivolumab in the first-line treatment of gastric cancer is very prominent, and the three years of considerable survival benefit follow-up data also affirmed the efficacy of this product in gastric cancer. According to industry insiders, nivolumab combined with chemotherapy may become the first-line standard treatment for gastric cancer in the future!