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Top-Selling Drugs 2023: Pharma’s $60bn COVID-19 Cliff

Keytruda Towers At Top Of League

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty toppled after recording the highest ever annual sales for a pharmaceutical in 2022, while Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic climbed rapidly. But Merck & Co’s immuno-oncology blockbuster Keytruda was secure in the number one spot in 2023 as COVID-19 receded.

Keytruda revenues grew as COVID-19 sales plummeted • Source: Shutterstock

The league table of top-selling drugs by global revenues saw a considerable shake-up in 2023, as COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic sales plummeted, GLP-1 inhibitors took the market by storm, and one-time best-seller Humira lost US patent protection.

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