Btobioinnovation.com 

Author: Jean-Claude Muller, 穆卓Executive Editor at BtoBioInnovation  jcm9144@gmail.com

SPECIAL REPORT

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Top 10 Biopharmaceutical R&D Budgets in 2022

Every year Fierce Biotech discloses the ranking of the R&D spending of the top ten biopharmaceutical companies in the world. The cumulative R&D spending of these companies is now close to $100 billion with a total 2022 revenue of $543.43 billion. The overall increase in R&D spending is slightly less than the one from 2020 to 2021 which should not be considered a slowdown in innovation.

The 2022 ranking is merely the same as in 2021 with Roche leading the pack with $15.15 billion, ahead of Johnson & Johnson. It is noteworthy that both companies are not pure biopharmaceutical players and have medical devices and diagnostic divisions.  Sanofi is back on the pitch, with a $7.2 billion spent on R&D in 2022 and eliminates GlaxoSmithKline from the top 10 list. There is still no Japanese company in the top 10 ranking.

A more thorough analysis of the various portfolio would be necessary to establish if major biotechnology collaborations have been boosting the pipelines, if there are already significant changes in R&D priorities following the COVID pandemic bonanza and how the internal versus external efforts are contributing to overall innovation.

1

Roche

R&D budget: 14.05 billion Swiss francs ($14.71 billion)
Change from 2021: 2.7%
Total 2022 revenue: 63.28 billion Swiss francs ($66.26 billion)
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 22%

2

Johnson & Johnson

R&D budget: $14.6 billion
Change from 2021: -0.8%
Total 2022 revenue: $94.94 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 15.4%

3

Merck & Co.

R&D budget: $13.55 billion
Change from 2021: 10.6%
Total 2022 revenue: $59.28 billion 
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 23%

4

Pfizer

R&D budget: $11.43 billion
Change from 2021: 10% 
Total 2022 revenue: $100.33 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 11.4%

5

Novartis

R&D budget: $10 billion
Change from 2021: 5%
Total 2022 revenue: $50.55 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 20%

6

AstraZeneca

R&D budget: $9.76 billion
Change from 2021: 0.3%
Total 2022 revenue: $44.35 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 22%

7

Bristol Myers Squibb

R&D budget: $9.51 billion
Change from 2021: -6.7%
Total 2022 revenue: $46.16 billion
8

Eli Lilly

R&D budget: $7.19 billion
Change from 2021: 4%
Total 2022 revenue: $28.54 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 25% 

9

Sanofi

R&D budget: 6.71 billion euros ($7.06 billion)
Change from 2021: 18%
Total 2022 revenue: 43 billion euros ($45.22 billion)
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 16% 

10

AbbVie

R&D budget: $6.51 billion
Change from 2021: -6%
Total 2022 revenue: $58.05 billion
R&D budget as percentage of revenue: 11.2%

Paris, March 28, 2023

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