DOSE OF REALITY: IQVIA REPORT EXPLORES GROWTH OF “BLOCKBUSTER” AND “MEGA-BLOCKBUSTER” BRAND NAME DRUGS OVER PAST TWO DECADES

Report Examines “Disproportionate Impact” of High-Priced Brand Name Drugs on “Healthcare Spending”

In case you missed it, a new report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, “A New Look at Biopharmaceutical Blockbusters,” found that Big Pharma’s roster of blockbuster medicines surged nearly fivefold – from just 19 in 2000 to 91 in 2024. In 2024, those 91 blockbuster medicines generated $700 billion in global sales, representing 63 percent of brand name prescription drug sales and 46 percent of all prescription drug sales worldwide. Below is a chart from IQVIA’s report showing the increase in the number of blockbusters over the period examined by the report.

The report found that Big Pharma’s blockbuster sales are increasingly concentrated among a small but growing group of “mega blockbusters” – drugs generating at least five times the annual blockbuster sales threshold. These drugs accounted for just 15 percent of blockbuster medicines in 2024 but drove nearly half (46 percent) of blockbuster sales.

The report identified four distinct periods of blockbuster drug development since 2000. Of note, the report found that the “defining distinction” of the most recent era of blockbuster drug development, from 2021 to 2024,“is a greater number and share of ‘mega’ blockbusters generating sales five times or more above the blockbuster threshold.”

The chart above shows the four distinct periods of blockbuster drug development identified by IQVIA.

Big Pharma’s egregious pricing and anti-competitive practices on these top-selling products is a major driver of health care inflation in the United States.

As the report states: “the blockbuster market segment appears to have an increasingly disproportionate impact on the biopharmaceutical industry and healthcare spending.”

As Congress returns to Washington, D.C. for the lame duck session, policymakers should work to advance bipartisan, market-based solutions to crack down on Big Pharma’s profiteering tactics and foster greater competition to lower drug prices for American consumers.

Read the full report from IQVIA HERE.

Read about how generic and biosimilar competition lower out-of-pocket costs for patients HERE.

Read more on how Big Pharma games the patent system to block competition and keep drug prices high HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.