Forecast Revenues from Blockbuster Drugs in 2021
It is interesting that 4 of the top 10 blockbuster drugs forecast for 2021 are cancer drugs.1
Runner up for top forecast global sales is Keytruda, Merck & Co’s anti-PD1 monoclonal antibody. This drug is a checkpoint inhibitor. Checkpoints are pathways in the immune system that prevent it from attacking the body’s own cells. Some cancers “exploit” checkpoints to evade the immune system.
Keytruda is expected to generate Merck & Co $16.8 bn in 2021. However, number 6 on the list is also an anti-PD1 monoclonal antibody: Bristol-Myers Squibbs’s Opivido. This drug is estimated to generate $8.8 bn in revenues.
Combined, anti-PD1 will generate $25.6 bn in revenues in 12 months. That’s over $2 bn a month! For context, Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine is forecast to draw in $2.5 bn in 2021.
If we consider the other 2 oncology products at the top ten (Revlimid & Imbruvica), this would put the total predicted revenues for oncology in the top 10 blockbuster drugs at $45.9 bn which equates to 42% of cash from these blockbusters.