Merck & Co Inc

Abbott deals with innovative devices and established pharmaceutical products. Any infringement of intellectual property rights may lead to huge losses.

GSK operates in over 170 countries and is subject to political, socioeconomic, and financial factors and risks across the globe.

The risk of losing market share due to losing patents is the highest risk that Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies face.

Bristol-Myers Squibb deals with innovative products, and any failure to secure or protect intellectual property rights is a huge risk and may lead to huge losses.

There’s no complete cure for rheumatoid arthritis, so most RA drugs are part of disease-management therapy. Humira accounts for 23.5% of the RA market share.

GlaxoSmithKline is a British multinational pharmaceutical company with a significant presence in the US. GSK has over 100,000 employees in operations around the world.

The human pharmaceutical segment includes the discovery, development, manufacturing, marketing, and sales of human pharmaceutical products.

Merck faces risks from other governments. In Japan, the pharmaceutical industry is subject to government-mandated biennial price reductions of pharmaceutical products and vaccines.

The respiratory, inflammation, and autoimmunity (or RI&A) franchise contributed nearly 19.2% of AstraZeneca’s (AZN) total assets in 2014.

Merck’s Pharmaceuticals division accounted for $36.0 billion, or 85%, of group net sales during 2014.

Pfizer (PFE) is one of the oldest and largest pharmaceutical companies in the US. The company deals in two major business segments.

Estimates suggest that Johnson & Johnson’s forward PE ratio increased from 15.5x in 2014 to 16.1x in 2015. The PE ratio is hovering around 19x for the industry.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) faces a unique combination of risks. The risks are in addition to specific risks in the pharmaceutical industry.

As a percentage of sales, Johnson & Johnson achieved lower expenses for 2014—compared to 2013. It was able to improve its gross profit margins.

Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) net revenue increased by 4.2% from $71.3 billion in 2013 to $74.3 billion in 2014. There was an operational increase of 6.1%.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) operates in nearly 60 countries. Its products are sold in about 200 countries. Almost 55% of its total business comes from outside the US.

Over a period of 128 years, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) diversified its business into three business segments.

Johnson & Johnson is a leading pharmaceuticals and healthcare company in the US. It delivered returns of 13.4% from February 2010 to February 2015.

Biotechnology funds have performed better than other healthcare ETFs. They invest in companies that use biological processes to produce medical products.

Pharmaceutical companies either deal with patented drugs, generic drugs, or both. Most big pharma companies deal with both.