Global spending on medicine continues to grow. As of 2018, approximately 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars had been spent on medicines, up from just 887 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. That number is expected to increase to 1.52 by the year 2023. Spending on medicines has increased everywhere globally. However, the United States takes the lead in total medicines spending globally and is expected to remain the top country for medicines spending through 2023.

Global pharmaceutical industry

Globally the pharmaceutical industry is a growing industry fueled by aging populations and new drugs to treat rare and specialty diseases. Regionally, the pharmaceutical industry generates the most revenue through the North American and European markets. Within all markets globally the top therapeutic class is oncology, followed by antidiabetics.

Top pharmaceutical companies

There are several large pharma companies that participate in the global pharmaceutical industry. As of 2018, U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson was the top pharmaceutical company, followed by Pfizer, based on market capitalization. Among pharmaceutical companies, some have produced more new drugs than others. The U.S. and Europe are responsible for the largest number of new pharmaceutical substances from 2013 to 2017.