iShares US Pharmaceuticals

According to estimates by Evaluate Pharma, a whopping $120 billion in sales was lost to patent expirations between 2009 and 2014.

Pfizer (PFE) released its 1Q18 earnings today, reporting another strong quarter for the Innovative health business.

In 2018, the global pharmaceutical industry stood at $1.2 trillion, and experts expect $1.5 trillion by 2023. Here’s everything investors need to know.

In this article, we’ll compare the EPS growth rates of Eli Lilly (LLY), Pfizer (PFE), Merck & Co. (MRK), Allergan (AGN), and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Eli Lilly (LLY) surpassed Wall Street estimates in 2Q17, reporting earnings per share of $1.11 on revenues of ~$5.8 billion. Analysts estimated that the company would report EPS of $1.05 on revenues of $5.6 billion.

Pfizer (PFE) reported a 2% decline in its top line for its 2Q17 earnings, which were released on August 1.

In 2016, Merck’s (MRK) Animal Health segment reported revenues of ~$3.5 billion, which reflected ~4% growth year-over-year.

The US healthcare system is unique in the developed world as it lacks a uniform system and, according to Emanuel, had been largely inefficient before Obamacare.

Johnson & Johnson’s Medical Devices segment contributed nearly 35% to the company’s total revenues.

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY) cardiovascular segment consists of key drug Eliquis. This segment contributed nearly 18% of total revenues for 3Q16.

Some of the challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces include R&D failures, changes in regulatory procedures, litigation, patent expiries, and foreign currency movements.

The FDA has now approved Opdivo for the treatment of BRAF WT (wild-type) melanoma, based on the results of a phase 3 study called CheckMate -066.

On November 23, two of the big pharmaceutical companies—Pfizer and Allergan—announced the biggest merger transaction ever in pharmaceuticals.

The JAVELIN series is a clinical trial program for the use of Avelumab for treatment of multiple types of cancer, including Merkel cell carcinoma.

The FDA has accepted Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY) supplemental biologics license application, or sBLA, for Opdivo for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma.