What Is a Blockbuster Drug?
A blockbuster drug is anextremely popular drug that generates annual sales of at least $1 billion for the company that sells it. Examples of blockbuster drugs include Vioxx, Lipitor, and Zoloft. Blockbuster drugs are commonly used to treat common medical problems like high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and cancer.
Key Takeaways
- A blockbuster drug is a very popular drug that generates annual sales of $1 billion or more for the company that sells it.
- Common blockbuster drugs are Vioxx, Lipitor, and Zoloft.
- Blockbuster drugs are used for common ailments, such as diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cancer, that many individuals face.
- Pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of money on research and development (R&D) and sell a successful drug at a high price to recoup losses and earn a profit.
- When a drug's patent expires, the market is flooded with generic drugs, negatively impacting sales of the blockbuster drug.
Understanding a Blockbuster Drug
Pharmaceutical companies spend a significant amount of time and money on the research and development (R&D) of new drugs. The research and development process can take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. When a pharmaceutical company creates a drug that works successfully and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they can sell the drug at a high price to recoup the R&D expenses, as well as making a profit.
Because these drugs come with a patent, the pharmaceutical company is the only company allowed to sell it for a specified period of time, often many years. In essence, the pharma company has a monopoly on this drug and can charge any price.
When the patent expires, many companies flood the market with generic versions of the drug at a significantly reduced price than the original, wiping away the monopoly and creating a competitive market. This significantly cuts into the original drug's sales, negatively impacting the pharma company that created it.
A blockbuster drug can be a major factor in a pharmaceutical company's success. However, it can also cause major problems for a company if the drug is discovered to have problematic side effects or is recalled after being released. This can result in litigation, high legal fees, and significant monetary compensation to affected users of the drug.
Biggest Blockbuster Drugs
Some of the biggest blockbuster drugs of all time, with lifetime sales of over $100 billion as of 2018, are as follows:
Lipitor
Company:Pfizer
Treats:High cholesterol
Lifetime sales:$164 billion
Warner-Lambert originally developedLipitor and it was approved in the U.S. in 1997. Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambertin 2000 to gain sole ownership of thedrug; a wise investment. Lipitor would eventually accountfor one-fourth of Pfizer’s total sales. The patent expired in 2011, but Lipitorstill lives on for Pfizer as a blockbuster drug, with most of its sales coming from China and overseas markets. Lipitor generated $2 billion in sales for Pfizer in 2019. This is a significant decrease, however, when compared to sales in 2011, the last year Pfizer had the patent. Sales for Lipitor that year were slightly over $9 billion.
Humira
Company:AbbVie
Treats:Ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, plaque psoriasis, ulcerative colitis
Lifetime sales:$137 billion
Humira is owned by AbbVie, a 2013 spin-off fromAbbott Labs. Doctors likeHumira’s ability to counteractinflammation caused by several diseases. The drug lost patent protection in 2018 and the FDA has approved five generic versions. However, this has not impacted Humira sales as yet, which brought in $20.1 billion in revenues in 2021. for AbbVie. AbbVie has also been consistently raising the price of Humira.
Advair
Company:GlaxoSmithKline
Treats:Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma
Lifetime sales:$104 billion
Advair is used to treat asthma and breathing from other lung diseases. Advairreceivedits approval in 2001 and has been a big seller since the beginning. The drug's U.S. patent expired in 2010 and its inhaler pattern expired in 2016, but no successful generic competitor surfaced until 2019. The issue was not the drug but rather the device, which was difficult to reproduce around the FDA's stringent drug-device patent laws. The generic drug is made by Mylan and costs 70% less than Advair. It is expected that sales of Advair will significantly decrease.
FAQs
A blockbuster drug is a medication that generates annual sales of over $1 billion. Weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are among the latest drugs to reach blockbuster status. Most blockbuster drugs treat chronic conditions that affect many people.
What is a blockbuster drug? ›
A blockbuster drug is an extremely popular drug that generates annual sales of at least $1 billion for the company that sells it.
What is a blockbuster product? ›
a very successful product, film, etc. that makes a lot of money: A Hollywood studio releases dozens of films in search of that one blockbuster. Blockbuster drugs produce huge profits for pharmaceutical companies. blockbuster products.
What was the first blockbuster drug? ›
Tagamet emerged as the first blockbuster drug when its sales exceeded $1 billion in 1986, three years after its introduction to the market. An anti–peptic ulcer drug, Tagamet was discovered by James W.
What is the most successful drug ever? ›
And a trio of immunology mainstays are led by their king, Humira, which is predicted to become the first drug ever to pass $20 billion in annual sales. Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor is by far the best-selling drug of all time.
Why is it called a blockbuster? ›
The term 'blockbuster' derives from the word used to describe large-scale bombs used in World War II. The concept of a film with major box-office impact arose during the war and the term was initially used for films of this sort, and particularly for big budget productions in the late 1940s and early 1950s (... ...
What is the blockbuster drug in 2024? ›
1. KarXT. You'd be forgiven for scratching your head at what Evaluate believes will be the biggest drug launch of 2024, in terms of sales potential by 2028, and at its maker Karuna Therapeutics.
What is the equivalent of Blockbuster? ›
Blockbuster competitors include Outerwall, Redbox, Cummins-Allison and The Best of Netflix. Blockbuster ranks 1st in Employee Net Promoter Score on Comparably vs its competitors.
What was special about Blockbuster? ›
David Cook opened the first Blockbuster in 1985.
His company was different from other rental stores because it offered customers a selection of 8,000 VHS tapes with the help of a modern, computerized check-out process, while other, smaller rental stores could only offer a couple hundred movies.
What is better than Blockbuster? ›
Netflix has primarily replaced traditional video rental services like Blockbuster due to its convenience, more extensive selection, and lower cost.
Lipitor, Humira and Advair boosted the bottom lines of Big Pharma companies and their shareholders for years. A prescription drug that surpasses $1 billion in sales is known as a blockbuster.
What is the blockbuster drug of the century? ›
It seems that the golden age for small-molecule blockbuster drugs is behind us. However, blockbuster drugs for biologics are on the rise. Enbrel, Humira, Remicade, Avastin, and others are now all the rage.
Why is cimetidine banned? ›
No, cimetidine (Tagamet HB) hasn't been banned. In fact, this medication is available over the counter and by prescription. The FDA decided to remove ranitidine (Zantac), a similar heartburn medication, from the market because they found that some ranitidine products had impurities that could potentially cause cancer.
Which drug is the king of drugs? ›
Thus, the correct answer is option (A), 'Opium'.
What is America's best selling drug? ›
U.S. top prescribed drugs based on sales 2022
Humira was the leading medicine in the United States based on sales in 2022, generating 18.6 billion U.S. dollars in revenue.
What is the rarest drug? ›
An alpha-emitting isotope with a short half-life, Actinium-225 is so rare that the annual global production is less than a grain of sand. Given this scarcity, it should come as no surprise that the isotope has been dubbed 'the rarest drug on Earth.
What are BMS blockbuster drugs? ›
In 2023, their top products included Revlimid and Opdivo, drugs used in the treatment of certain cancers, and Eliquis, an anticoagulant. Those drugs generated six, nine, and 12.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the company, respectively.
What is called the queen of drugs? ›
The correct answer is Penicillin. Key Points. Penicillin is an antibiotic widely used in the treatment of bacterial infections. Penicillin is called the ''Queen of medicines''.
What did blockbuster used to be called? ›
In 1996, Blockbuster Entertainment Inc. merged into a new Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation and the retail stores, then called Blockbuster Video, were renamed Blockbuster.
