Gross margin ranking of top pharmaceutical companies 2022

Among top pharmaceutical companies in 2022, Novo Nordisk had the highest gross margin, followed by Gilead Sciences and Eli Lilly. Novo Nordisk’s gross margin in that year was nearly 83 percent, while Gilead's and Eli Lilly's gross margin at that time was about 77-79 percent. Gross margin here is defined as the revenue of a company less the cost of goods sold, divided by revenue. Gross margin is a representation of profit. The higher the gross margin, the more power a company has to raise prices.

Top pharmaceutical companies

Pharmaceutical companies can be ranked in other ways as well. In 2022, Pfizer and AbbVie were the top-ranked pharmaceutical companies based on prescription sales. Research and development spending is another way in which pharmaceuticals can be ranked. Among global top companies, Roche and J&J were the leading pharmaceutical companies based on research and development spending as a portion of revenue in 2022.

Company spotlight: Novartis

Novartis, a pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland, was the sixth leading biotech and pharmaceutical company based on market capitalization as of 2023. Novartis has experienced distinct regional successes in Europe and in the United States being the top regional revenue generators for Novartis.