Top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue 2023

The leading pharmaceutical company worldwide in 2023 was Johnson & Johnson, however, also including non-pharmaceutical sales. 

A global view on the industry

The total global pharmaceutical market was worth around 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. North America remains the strongest regional market worldwide, responsible for nearly half of the global market size. The largest national pharmaceutical market is the United States, making up almost half of global medicine spending. Thus, five of the ten largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide were from the United States in 2023. One reason for this is that the U.S. is still the world’s largest hub for life sciences and medical research and knowledge. 

The importance of innovation

Pharmaceutical companies are to a considerable part – more than in most other industries – driven by the imperative to produce innovative products and to invest in research and development. Once a new drug, for example, is launched, the clock is already ticking towards the loss of patent protection. In particular, companies that depend on a small number of blockbuster drugs, are under threat of heavy revenue loss. Two effects of patent expirations for the pharma industry are high R&D concentration and a growing focus on specialty drugs.