Below you can see our list of the 5 largest biotech companies in the world. For a more comprehensive list please see this article.
5. Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK)
The first company in our list of biggest biotech companies in the world to cross a market cap of $200 billion is Merck & Co., with a market cap of $232.9 billion in 2019. It also earned profits of $46.84 billion in 2019. It was founded in the US as a subsidiary of Merck, a Germany company which itself is the world’s oldest operating pharmaceutical and chemical companies. While it is a huge company, it has come under fire for misconducts, including Medicaid overbilling and a poor environmental record.
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4. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)
While Pfizer’s market cap crossed $300 billion in 2000, its current market cap is $217 billion. It is such a giant that its not just one of the biggest biotech companies in the world, its one of the biggest companies in the world, period. In 2018, Pfizer merged its consumer division with that of GlaxoSmithKline, with GSK having a controlling interest in the joint venture of 68%. The company has undertaken several acquisitions to become the current behemoth it is. Pfizer is also working on a vaccine for Covid-19 and has agreed to pay Pfizer $2 billion for an initial 100 million doses of a successful vaccine.
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3. Novartis (NYSE:NVS)
Two of the top three biotech companies in the world are Swiss, starting off with Novartis, with a market cap of $240 billion. The company was formed in 1996 after the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Ceigy, and has since gone on to become one of the biggest companies in the world, even though like other major pharma companies, it has faced a lot of scrutiny for controversial practices such as a sexual discrimination suit, marketing violations, bribery, payment to Trump’s attorney at the time Michael Cohen and data related scandals as well. Despite these controversies, its products continue to sell well, earning the company a revenue of $47.45 billion in 2019.
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2. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (SIX:ROG)
Another Swiss company, Roche has its headquarters in Basel, having been founded 124 years ago. It was the first company ever in 1934 to mass produce Vitamin C, while in 1957 it started to produce tranquilizers, including the controversial Rohypnol, which later gained infamy as a date rape drug. It also created the first antidepressant in 1956, albeit accidentally. In 2019, it had profits of $63.85 billion.
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1. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
With a market capitalization of $385 billion and profits exceeding $82 billion, there is no doubt that J&J tops the list of 5 largest biotech companies in the world. The company includes 250 subsidiary companies which have operations in over 60 countries. J&J has more recently been famous for several huge rulings against it, especially with regards to its famous baby powder, which was said to cause cancer in its users. However, despite the findings against the company, with awards going into billions of dollars, even that has not been enough to demote it from the top spot.
See also: 10 Largest Companies In The World By Assets
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