Expectations in the drug business have been getting extremely high. Hepatitis C drugs are generating some of the biggest annual sales ever. New medicines from
Merck
and
Bristol-Myers Squibb
that harness the immune system to fight tumors are generating huge excitement. For a quick sense of what is possible in the pharmaceutical industry, here are the top drug launches of all time, compiled by pharma analysts at investment bank Evercore ISI and ranked by peak sales. Included is last year's debut of Sovaldi, Gilead's hepatitis C med, which hit $10 billion in sales its first year on the market--the fastest growth out of the gate of any pharmaceutical ever.
Sources: Evercore ISI; Evaluate Pharma; First Order Analytics; public sources.
