[Newsmp] Big pharma's oncology businesses showed a clear difference in performance.
The quarterly reports focused on cancer from big pharma, compiled by Newsmp, indicate that the leading group such as companies, including MSD, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), AstraZeneca, and Novartis, all recorded high growth rates.
MSD's cancer drug division's sales grew by 18.9% this year to KRW 9.2 trillion from KRW 7.7 trillion in the second quarter of last year.
Keytruda, which accounts for the majority of the cancer drug division, has exceeded KRW 8 trillion in sales, overwhelming the performance of other companies' cancer drug divisions alone.
Johnson & Johnson's oncology business expanded by nearly 10% from KRW 5.37 trillion to KRW 5.85 trillion, while AstraZeneca's oncology business grew by 18.4% from KRW 4.9 trillion to KRW 5.82 trillion.
Novartis grew by 25.4% from KRW 3.64 trillion to KRW 4.56 trillion in the oncology unit, surpassing Pfizer in sales and recording the highest growth rate among the 8 companies reviewed.
On the other hand, Pfizer's cancer business contracted by 4.3% to KRW 3.92 trillion from KRW 4.1 trillion, while AbbVie's also shrank to KRW 1.24 trillion from KRW 1.48 trillion, and GSK's to KRW 2.53 billion from KRW 2.58 billion.
In contrast, Lilly posted sales of KRW 1.82 trillion in the second quarter of last year and expanded by 22.1% to KRW 2.22 trillion.
