Q: What do these drugs have in common – Avastin, Humira, Rituxan, Enbrel, Lantus?
A: By 2014, they are pegged to be the largest-selling drugs in the market.
Avastin, an anti-cancer antibody from biotech giant Genentech (recently acquired by Roche), is at the top of the list. Humira is an anti-inflammatory antibody for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease from Abbott Labs. Rituxan, an antibody for cancer and arthritis, is owned by Genentech/ Roche. The anti-inflammatory antibody Enbrel sold by Amgen and Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) comes in fourth while Sanofi-Aventis’s diabetes drug Lantus is in fifth place.
All of these are biotech products marketed by mainline pharma companies. The shift towards biotech-derived products represents a significant therapeutic shift, according to Evaluate Pharma. Evaluate also forecasts that over 50 percent of the top 100 drugs in 2014 will be biotech medications, which marks a significant shift from 28 percent in 2008 and 11 percent in 2000. It explains why Big Pharma has been pursuing biotech relentlessly.
Those stepping into a career in Biologics have reason to smile while marketing grads need to put their thinking caps on and get a little perspective. Most cutting-edge drug discovery jobs are in biotech, while the cool drug marketing jobs are going to remain in the small-molecule pharma business.
Either way, opportunity knocks.
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