Biopharma sees strong Q2 2023 market cap growth

For 20 of the leading biopharmaceutical companies, the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 has brought an aggregate market capitalisation growth of 2.3 percent. Data and analytics company GlobalData has reported a rise from $3.49 trillion in the Q1 of 2023 to $3.56 trillion in Q2 2023.

Q2 2023 biopharma market capitalisation results

Eli Lilly

“Eli Lilly witnessed the largest market capitalisation growth of 36.1 percent over Q2 2023, moving up to first position in the list and displacing Johnson & Johnson from its top spot for the first time even though it reported a 6.8 percent increase in market capitalisation,” commented Alison Labya, MSc, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData.

According to Eli Lilly in early August 2023, its new products (select products launched since 2022: Jaypirca, Mounjaro and Omvoh) contributed $1.00 billion to revenue in Q2 2023. Its diabetes treatment Mounjaro led this outcome.

Revenue for Eli Lilly’s growth products (select products launched prior to 2022, including Jardiance, Retevmo, Taltz and Verzenio) increased 16 percent to $4.93 billion in Q2 2023. Drugs Verzenio, Jardiance and Taltz led this result.

Lilly completes biopharma acquisitions

GlobalData highlighted that Eli Lilly reported its synthetic peptide Mounjaro had $980 million in global sales in Q2. The analytics company stated Eli Lilly is anticipating Mounjaro’s approval for the treatment of obesity based on the release in Q2 of two positive Phase III trial results; SURMOUNT-3 and SURMOUNT-4.

In addition, positive outcomes of the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 Phase III trial, evaluating donanemab as a monoclonal antibody therapy for early Alzheimer’s, strongly contributed to the spike in Eli Lilly’s market capitalisation in the last quarter. Submission for US FDA regulatory approval, anticipated to be received by the end of 2023, further drove this progress, GlobalData noted.

AstraZeneca

Eight of AstraZeneca’s medicines had over “$1bn of revenue in the first half [of 2023],” Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca commented in late July 2023 on the company’s H1 and Q2 2023 results. He also explained that several medicines including Ultomiris, Imfinzi/Imjudo and Farxiga had rapid growth, with revenues up 64 percent, 57 percent and 40 percent respectively.

GSK

Furthermore, biopharma firm GSK reported +4 percent and +11 percent ex COVID sales in the second quarter of 2023. Part of this growth was driven by Arexvy, which in May 2023, became the world’s first approved RSV vaccine for older adults.

Merck & Co

Merck & Co reached third in ranking, due to 8.4 percent market capitalisation growth due to its $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences. With the company’s monoclonal antibody drug candidate PRA023 predicted to reach $2.1 billion sales globally by 2029, this could offset Keytruda’s decline sales expected after its loss of exclusivity in 2028, GlobalData highlighted.

AbbVie

AbbVie reported the largest market capitalisation decline in Q2 2023. This is mainly due to the reported decline in sales of Humira, a consequence of biosimilar competition.

In total, GlobalData reported that over half of the top 20 global biopharmaceutical companies reported a decline in their market capitalisation during Q2 2023. For example, AbbVie had a -15.5 percent decline, Daiichi Sankyo -13.5 percent and Pfizer -10.1 percent.