Developing blockbuster drugs is the prime commercial goal of biopharmaceutical manufacturers, offering the chance to recoup years of investment in drug development and lay a solid financial foundation for the company’s long-term future. Building blockbuster brands has never been easy and it has only gotten harder as competitive dynamics have intensified, as certain therapeutic areas have become saturated and as market access headwinds have strengthened. Nonetheless, new drugs reach the market and grow into new blockbuster brands and sometimes even “mega-blockbuster”-sized sellers.
For decades a blockbuster has been loosely defined as a drug that generates more than $1bn in annual sales. But...
