Keytruda is projected to stay the top-ranked drug worldwide based on sales in 2025, with some 31 billion U.S. dollars. This statistic displays the expected top drugs in 2025 based on sales projections as of December 2024. It has to be mentioned that Novo Nordisk's brands Ozempic and Wegovy are, in fact, the same drug (generic name semaglutide), where only dosage and dose form define if it is used for diabetes or weight loss. It is very similar in the case of Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound which are basically one and the same drug (generic name tirzepatide). Oncology's dominance in pharmaceutical revenues Cancer treatments are becoming increasingly crucial in the pharmaceutical landscape. Keytruda's projected sales for 2025 underscore this trend, while the drug's revenue increased by more than four billion dollars between 2023 and 2024. This growth is part of a larger pattern in global oncology spending, which exceeded 250 billion U.S. dollars globally in 2024, almost doubling from five years earlier. The substantial investment in cancer treatments is likely to continue, with major pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Merck expected to be the oncology market leaders by 2030. Market dynamics and company performance Merck & Co. has seen its overall revenue increase to 64 billion in 2024, driven largely by its oncology franchise. The company's commitment to innovation is evident in its record-high R&D spending in 2023. This focus on research and development is crucial for maintaining competitiveness in the industry, as demonstrated by the changing rankings of top-selling drugs. For instance, AbbVie's Humira, once a blockbuster, dropped out of the top 10 best-selling drugs in 2024 due to patent expiration, highlighting the constant need for pharmaceutical companies to innovate and develop new products to maintain their market position.

Merck's cancer drug Keytruda is the best-selling drug worldwide, with nearly 30 billion U.S. dollars of revenue. Humira, the year-long leading drug worldwide, with revenues totaling nine billion dollars, did not make it in the top 10 in 2024. HumiraHumira is used mostly for the treatment of rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. However, like many other top drugs, the range of medical conditions it can be used to treat is much larger. Thus, the drug is also used to treat Crohn’s disease, ankylosing spondylitis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, uveitis, and some other autoimmune diseases. Humira is administered subcutaneously via injection. It was approved for the first time in 2002 in the United States. Blockbuster drug relianceBlockbuster drugs often have a large impact on the manufacturer. In some cases, pharmaceutical companies are highly dependent on their sales performance. In the case of Humira, AbbVie generated over 36 percent of its total revenue from this drug and over 53 percent from its top three products. Companies that depend on a small number of blockbuster drugs could be under threat of heavy revenue loss. Since biosimilars of Humira (adalimumab) have been available, AbbVie's revenues of this drug are decreasing steadily. On its peak, Humira has exceeded the 20 billion-dollar-revenue mark, quite in contrast to some predictions made years ago.

Keytruda is not only Merck & Co.’s top product, but also the best-selling drug worldwide, generating some **** billion U.S. dollars in revenue during 2024. The cancer drug with the generic name pembrolizumab increased its revenues by around *** billion U.S. dollars compared to 2023. Another of Merck’s top-ranked pharmaceuticals based on revenue is Januvia, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. Oncology and diabetes are two major focus areas of Merck & Co. Company backgroundMerck & Co. is a global pharmaceutical company with an interesting historical background. Originally a German company, its operations located in the U.S. were confiscated during World War I and established as a new independent American company. The rest of the company - today known as Merck KGaA – is also still active as a chemical-pharmaceutical company. Today, the American Merck is significantly larger than the German counterpart. Merck’s top product KeytrudaOver the last years, Keytruda was ranked first among the top cancer drugs worldwide based on revenue. The oncology market was for years dominated by Roche’s top products, Rituxan, Herceptin, and Avastin, as well as Celgene’s (BMS's) Revlimid. As of today, Keytruda is the global top cancer drug and is expected to keep this position for the years to come.

The graph depicts Pfizer's top 10 products based on revenue in 2024. Pfizer Inc. is a multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. In 2024, Pfizer's top product was Eliquis. COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, on the other hand, showed another dramatic decline in sales from **** billion U.S. dollars in 2023 to *** billion dollars. Pfizer's top productsPfizer is a pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, United States. It was founded in **** by Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in Brooklyn, New York, where they produced an antiparasitic called santonin. Today, Pfizer produces pharmaceutical products for a wide range of medical sectors that include but are not limited to immunology, cardiology, and neurology. In 2024, Pfizer generated a total revenue of **** billion U.S. dollars worldwide, with oncology products accumulating some **** billion U.S. dollars.Some of Pfizer’s well-known products - although with expired patent protection - include Lyrica and Lipitor, which generated around *** and * billion U.S. dollars in revenue, respectively, in 2019. Pregabalin, marketed as Lyrica, is an anticonvulsant drug used to treat disorders such as epilepsy, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and fibromyalgia. Lipitor, one of Pfizer’s more well-known products, generated revenues of **** billion U.S. dollars in 2006, however, after Pfizer’s patent on Lipitor expired in 2011, revenue has fallen to under * billion U.S. dollars. Currently, generic forms of atorvastatin (Lipitor) are available. Lipitor is a statin that is used to lower blood cholesterol and to prevent cardiovascular diseases.