- Roche was the best selling oncology company of 2018, with double the sales of second place Celgene
- Bristol Myers Squibb acquired Celgene in early 2019, which will likely create the largest cancer company
Roche (OTC:RHHBY) generated over $25B in oncology sales for 2018 due to billion dollar drugs such as Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin. Roche, however only saw a 2% growth in sales over 2017, which could indicate that its time as the top selling oncology company may be nearing an end.
Celgene, was in second place thanks to their blockbuster Revlimid, which is also the best selling cancer drug worldwide. Their oncology division grew sales at 17% over 2017.
In January 2019, Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) announced a mega-deal to acquire Celgene in a $74B deal. BMY was in 4th spot in 2018 due to the rise of immue-oncology Opdivo.
Combined, the two companies are expected to overtake Roche as the number 1 selling cancer company globally, as early as 2019.
Article By: Fatimah Aminu
Fatimah is an experienced editor at various financial and consumer publishing houses. She obtained a master’s degree in Publishing from NYU, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree. She is currently earning a second masters degree at CUNY online in Psychology. Fatimah covers healthcare, cannabis and technology.