Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) magazine published The Top 25 Global Biotech Companies 2018 ranking based on market capitalization as of Oct 30, 2018.
Reference
1 Shire stock continues to be traded even though the company has agreed to be acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical for £46 billion ($59.8 billion), in an acquisition expected to close in the first half of 2019.
Source: Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2018, GEN
From the article:
Companies based outside the U.S. accounted for more than half (14) of the companies ranked on this year’s Top 25 list. The largest portion of overseas companies are the five biotechs based in China (including Hong Kong), followed by two companies based in South Korea; two headquartered in Ireland; and one each based in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, India, and Israel. One company on this list is headquartered in the U.S., but domiciled for tax purposes in the U.K. That leaves just 10 of the Top 25 biotechs that are domiciled in the U.S. in addition to maintaining key operations stateside.
A few observations:
- The world’s top biotech company based on market cap is the US-based Amgen(AMGN). The next largest firm is Gilead Sciences (GILD) which makes drugs for rare diseases.
- Danish biotech giant Novo Nordisk(NVO) is the 3rd largest company and is the world’s top diabetes drug maker.
- Israel-based Teva’s stock (TEVA) used to be a high-flier due to its leadership position in the generic drug market. However in recent years the company is struggling as competition has heated up in the generics industry.
Disclosure: No Positions
