Surprises in the Industry's Most Profitable Companies

June 20, 2008 Surprises in the industry's most profitable companies

Evaluate Vantage

An analysis of the industry’s most profitable companies last year throws up some surprising names within the top ten – ViroPharma tops the league table with a net income margin of 47%, generating all its profits from sales of anti-bacterial agent Vancocin. Interestingly, two Indian generic firms feature, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, perhaps dispelling the notion that margins from selling generics are always low.

Of the big pharma players, only those US groups with mature product portfolios, namely Pfizer, Merck & Co and Amgen, make it into the list. However, looking at forecast margins for the current year, the table below also reveals that Merck & Co drops out of the top ten, impacted by significantly lower sales from its cholesterol franchise. Alcon replaces Merck, suggesting one good reason why Novartis recently decided to fork out $11bn to acquire a 25% stake in the eye-care company.

This analysis from EvaluatePharma is based on dividing normalised net income (excluding exceptional items) by the total revenues, to generate a net margin percentage. It only includes companies that have reported two consecutive years of profit, with incomes in excess of $50m in both 2007 and 2008. 2007 - top 10 companies Net Margin Net Income - Normalised ($m) Total Revenues ($m)

2007 2006 2007 2007

ViroPharma 47% 66 95 204

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries 44% 159 371 837

Gilead Sciences 38% 1,204 1,615 4,230

Biovail 35% 428 293 843

OSI Pharmaceuticals 32% 12 110 341

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals 32% 68 157 493

Amgen 32% 4,459 4,675 14,771

Merck & Co 32% 5,506 7,624 24,198

Pfizer 31% 14,982 15,113 48,209

Warner Chilcott 31% 169 276 900

2008 - top 10 companies Net Margin Net Income - Normalised ($m) Total Revenues ($m)

2008 2007 2008 2008

Gilead Sciences 38% 1,615 1,954 5,157

OSI Pharmaceuticals 36% 110 141 387

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries 35% 371 297 860

ViroPharma 34% 95 76 220

Warner Chilcott 34% 276 326 949

Pfizer 33% 15,113 15,794 48,122

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals 32% 157 200 633

Amgen 31% 4,675 4,397 14,351

Alcon 30% 1,627 1,940 6,378

Biovail 30% 293 218 732

Biovail’s consistent appearance in the lists is intriguing given the current turmoil at the Canadian group, with a tug of war between the existing management and a group of dissident shareholders over the strategic direction the company should be pursuing (see EP Vantage article: Is Biovail a "broken company",June 4, 2008).

Biovail’s respectable profitability levels suggest the parties concerned should pause for a minute and heed the old adage, “if it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it”.

Focused strategy

The top biotech is Gilead Sciences, clearly benefitting enormously from a fast-growing and maturing portfolio of HIV drugs, lead by Atripla and Truvada. This is also a key factor as to why the biotech’s shares have shown impressive growth over the last five years, currently trading around an historic high of $55. The group’s enterprise value of $51.3bn suggests an impressive return on R&D investment of $1.67bn over the last five years, far superior to all its peers.

Another company generating impressive profits from a clearly defined strategy is Warner Chilcott, focusing on products for women’s health and the dermatology sector.

By targeting niche but lucrative markets and employing a relatively modest sales force of 400 reps, the New Jersey company, which also benefits from low tax rates due to its incorporation in Bermuda, is showing other specialty companies what can be achieved.

Projecting further forward to 2012, Celgene looks set to be the biggest riser up the league table, raising its net margin of 29.7% this year to 42% by 2012, benefitting from its recent acquisition of Pharmion and impressive forecasts for cancer agent Revlimid, which will be in its sixth year on the market by then.