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Top 10 Best-Selling Drugs Of Q2 2023: COVID-19 Out, HPV In

Merck & Co’s Gardasil Vaccine Debuts On List

 
• By Eleanor Malone

The Merck & Co vaccine for human papillomavirus Gardasil, along with Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex for multiple myeloma, entered the ranks of the top 10 best-selling drugs globally in the second quarter. There was no product for COVID-19 in the line-up for the first time since 2020.

dollar bill with vaccine
• Source: Shutterstock, Ruslan Lytvyn

Merck & Co., Inc.’s anticancer checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) has maintained its position at the top of the league table of the world’s best-selling drugs in the second quarter. It attained supremacy for the first time in the first quarter of 2023 as COVID-19 product sales began declining and AbbVie Inc.’s Humira (adalimumab), which for many years had dominated the list, suffered a steep drop after losing US market exclusivity and facing biosimilar competition from late January.

Key Takeaways

  • Gardasil 9 and Darzalex entered the list for the first time in Q2 2023.

Combined sales of the top 10 best-selling drugs globally fell precipitously in the second quarter of 2023, from $46.3bn in...

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