Top 10 Pharmaceutical Companies in the USA: Revenue & HQ

The largest pharmaceutical companies in the USA by 2025 revenue are Johnson & Johnson ($94.2 billion), Eli Lilly ($65.2 billion), Merck & Co. ($65.0 billion), Pfizer ($62.6 billion) and AbbVie ($61.2 billion), followed by Bristol Myers Squibb, Amgen and Gilead Sciences. Roche, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Sanofi are European companies with large US operations.

Key Takeaways

• Johnson & Johnson had the highest 2025 revenue of any US-headquartered drugmaker ($94.19 billion), although about 36% of that came from its MedTech division.
• Eli Lilly of Indianapolis grew revenue from $45.03 billion in 2024 to $65.18 billion in 2025, and in November 2025 it became the first healthcare company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
• Four companies on the original list are not American: Novartis and Roche (Basel, Switzerland), Sanofi (Paris, France) and AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK).
• Much has changed since 2023: Pfizer moved headquarters, Merck is now in Rahway, Bristol Myers Squibb left New York City for New Jersey, J&J split off Kenvue, and Novartis spun off Sandoz.
• The earlier version contained errors, including wrong employee counts for Pfizer and Sanofi and the claim that Gilead’s Sovaldi treats HIV (it treats hepatitis C).

Note (September 2026): This list was first compiled in June 2023; the company facts were re-checked in September 2026, and several wrong or outdated figures (employee counts, headquarters, product descriptions) have been corrected in place. Novartis, Sanofi, Roche and AstraZeneca are headquartered in Europe rather than the US; they are included because of their large US operations. Where a detail could not be verified, the text says so; check each company’s own annual report before relying on any figure.

Many of the pharmaceutical companies in the United States were founded as early as the 19th century, and they have a long and prosperous history. Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Eli Lilly and AbbVie are among the best-known pharmaceutical firms with headquarters in the United States as of September 2026.

Pharmaceutical Companies In USA – List of Top Pharmaceutical Companies In USA

These businesses are in charge of manufacturing a wide variety of products, including both prescription and over-the-counter medications. In order to bring new and improved treatments to market, many of these corporations employ thousands of employees and engage in research and development efforts. Estimates of the size of the US pharmaceutical market vary by source and method; according to Wikipedia’s article on US prescription drug prices, the United States spent more than $600 billion on prescription medicines in 2023. Here are 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies operating in the US. Six are US-headquartered; four (Novartis, Sanofi, Roche and AstraZeneca) are headquartered in Europe but run large US businesses.

Pfizer

Pfizer is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered at The Spiral at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York City, where it moved in April 2023. Pfizer was founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart. Pfizer employs approximately 75,000 people (2025) and reported revenue of $62.58 billion in 2025, making it one of the largest research-based biopharmaceutical firms in the world. (The 180,000-employee figure in the earlier version of this article was wrong.)

Pfizer creates medicines and vaccines across areas such as cardiovascular disease, infectious disease and cancer. Its largest products by 2025 revenue were Eliquis (co-marketed with Bristol Myers Squibb), the Prevnar pneumococcal vaccine, Vyndaqel, the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine, Ibrance and Paxlovid. Pfizer also creates medicines to address conditions like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis.

Pfizer is also known for Viagra, which Pfizer scientists created in 1989; Lipitor, which Pfizer co-marketed with Warner-Lambert from 1997 before acquiring that company in 2000; and Lyrica (pregabalin), which was first synthesized at Northwestern University, developed by Parke-Davis and is licensed to Pfizer.

Merck & Co.

Merck & Co. is a global healthcare company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey (it was previously based in Kenilworth, New Jersey). Outside the United States and Canada it does business as MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme). Merck was established in January 1891 as the US subsidiary of Germany’s Merck and became independent in 1917, when the US government seized it during World War I; it has since developed into a major player in the worldwide healthcare industry. The business specializes in offering clients worldwide cutting-edge drugs, vaccines, and other health-related items.

Merck employs approximately 75,000 people worldwide (2025) and reported revenue of $65.01 billion in 2025. Its best-known products are the cancer immunotherapy Keytruda ($29.5 billion in 2024 revenue) and the HPV vaccine Gardasil ($8.6 billion in 2024). The primary goals of Merck’s research and development efforts are to identify cures and safeguards against the most serious health problems in the world. Many different medical disorders, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and infectious diseases, are treated and prevented with the use of Merck’s medications.

Johnson & Johnson

Founded in 1886, Johnson & Johnson is a multinational healthcare conglomerate. It produces and markets pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and consumer healthcare items. With its corporate headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the corporation has operations in more than 60 nations worldwide. Johnson & Johnson is one of the biggest healthcare businesses in the world, with about 138,200 employees and revenue of $94.19 billion in 2025. It now operates two divisions: Innovative Medicine (64% of 2025 revenue) and MedTech (36%).

Johnson & Johnson no longer makes consumer healthcare goods: its former consumer health division, which owns brands such as Tylenol, Band-Aid, Neutrogena, Listerine and Johnson’s baby products, became the separate company Kenvue through a May 2023 IPO and a July 2023 split-off, and J&J sold its remaining 9.5% stake in 2024. In November 2025, Kimberly-Clark agreed to acquire Kenvue. Those Kenvue brands are still sold in pharmacies, supermarkets and other retail locations, while J&J’s own medicines include Darzalex and Carvykti for multiple myeloma and Erleada for prostate cancer.

Novartis

The international pharmaceutical firm Novartis was established in Switzerland on December 20, 1996, through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. The business focuses on doing research and creating cutting-edge drugs and medical equipment in addition to offering healthcare solutions through partnerships with medical and health professionals and other life science organizations. Novartis is based in Basel, Switzerland, and employed 75,883 people in 2024, far fewer than before it spun off its eye-care business Alcon (April 2019) and its generics business Sandoz (October 2023). In the US it operates as Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, headquartered in New Jersey.

Novartis is one of the biggest pharmaceutical firms in the world, with revenue of about $47.45 billion in 2019 and $54.53 billion in 2025; Wikipedia describes it as the eighth-largest pharmaceutical company by revenue in 2024. The earlier claim that it was third in sales in 2019 could not be verified.

Sanofi SA

Aventis and Sanofi-Synthélabo SNCS merged to form Sanofi SA, a French global pharmaceutical firm, in 2004. The business has activities all over the world and its headquarters are in Paris, France. Sanofi, which employed 82,878 people in 2024 (not about 20,000 as this article previously said), is among the biggest pharmaceutical corporations in the world and is well known in the US, where it moved its US headquarters to Morristown, New Jersey, in May 2025.

More than 100 nations can purchase Sanofi’s goods, which include well-known names including Allegra, Lantus, Ambien, and Taxotere. The organization has about 3,000 people who are solely focused on research and development. Sanofi reported revenue of €43.62 billion in 2025. Its consumer health unit, Opella (which includes over-the-counter brands), became an independent company on April 30, 2025, after Sanofi sold a 50% controlling stake to the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; Sanofi also co-markets the immunology drug Dupixent with Regeneron.

Roche Group

The Roche Group is a multinational healthcare corporation headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, with 103,249 employees in 2024. Wikipedia describes Roche as the fifth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue and the leading provider of cancer treatments globally. It was established in Basel, Switzerland, in 1896, and is currently among the biggest pharmaceutical corporations on the planet. The business specializes in the discovery, production, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical equipment.

It offers a wide range of goods that are employed in the treatment of numerous illnesses, such as cancer, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, arthritis, diabetes,and unusual genetic abnormalities. Roche’s biggest US presence is Genentech, the South San Francisco biotechnology company it fully acquired in March 2009 for $46.8 billion; Roche’s US headquarters moved to Genentech’s site after that deal.

Gilead Sciences

California’s Foster City is home to the biopharmaceutical business Gilead Sciences. Gilead, which was founded in June 1987 by Michael L. Riordan under the name Oligogen, focuses mainly on antiviral drugs for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza and COVID-19. Gilead reported revenue of $29.44 billion and about 17,000 employees in 2025. As a pioneer in biotechnology, Gilead has created cutting-edge therapeutic treatments for people with life-threatening illnesses.

The medicines of Gilead are sold in more than 100 nations and are supported by a robust scientific staff and years of study. Gilead has been at the forefront of antiviral treatment, but its game-changing medicine Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), approved by the FDA in 2013, treats hepatitis C, not HIV/AIDS as this article previously stated. Sovaldi’s launch price of $1,000 per pill drew a US Senate Finance Committee investigation. Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir, also for hepatitis C) and Viread are two further Gilead medications that have achieved success, and the HIV medicine Biktarvy is one of its main current products.

AbbVie

AbbVie is a multinational, research-based biopharmaceutical corporation headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. It was formed in 2012 as a spin-off from Abbott Laboratories and became a public company in January 2013. AbbVie concentrates on creating cutting-edge treatments in disciplines like immunology, cancer, and neuroscience.

AbbVie employs about 57,000 people (2025) and reported revenue of $61.2 billion in 2025. In 2019 it agreed to acquire Allergan for about $63 billion. The goal of AbbVie is to find, create, and distribute cutting-edge medications that enable patients to live better lives. AbbVie’s products include Humira, for autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease ($9 billion in 2024 revenue, down after biosimilar competition began in January 2023); Skyrizi ($11.7 billion in 2024); Imbruvica, for blood cancers; and Venclexta, for leukemia and lymphoma.

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers Squibb (which does business as Bristol Myers Squibb) is an American pharmaceutical business headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, with its corporate headquarters in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, since July 2023; it was previously based in New York City. The company traces its roots to Bristol-Myers, founded in 1887, which merged with Squibb in 1989; it focuses on the study, creation and marketing of medications. It acquired Celgene in November 2019 for $74 billion, and it reported revenue of $48.2 billion and about 32,500 employees in 2025.

With operations in more than 150 countries, it is one of the biggest biopharmaceutical businesses in the world. The company produces a wide variety of medications to treat issues such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, immune system disorders, infectious diseases, respiratory problems, and neurological disorders. Its main products are the blood thinner Eliquis (30% of 2025 revenue, co-marketed with Pfizer), the cancer immunotherapy Opdivo (21%) and Revlimid for multiple myeloma (6%). Distribution-center locations described in the earlier version of this article could not be verified.

AstraZeneca

Cambridge, UK-based AstraZeneca is a multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical firm with British and Swedish roots. It was created in 1999 as a result of the union of the Swedish company Astra AB with the British company Zeneca Group.

AstraZeneca develops, produces and sells prescription medicines and vaccines. It does not make agrochemicals, as this article previously said: AstraZeneca’s agrochemicals business was merged with Novartis’s agribusiness to form Syngenta in November 2000. With operations in over 100 nations and sales of its goods in over 180 nations, AstraZeneca is present all over the world.

Cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infectious, neurology and cancer are some of its key focus areas. AstraZeneca’s revenue was about $24.4 billion in 2019 (not over $35 billion, as previously stated) and grew to $58.74 billion in 2025, with about 89,900 employees. Its US base is in Wilmington, Delaware, and one of its main R&D centers is in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The business makes significant investments in R&D (check the company’s latest annual report for the current budget; the earlier $7 billion figure could not be verified). In February 2026 AstraZeneca moved its US listing from Nasdaq to a direct listing of ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Its research initiatives are concentrated on finding and creating cutting-edge treatments for critical ailments.

Estimates of the US pharmaceutical sector’s size differ by source; according to Wikipedia’s article on US prescription drug prices, US spending on prescription medicines exceeded $600 billion in 2023. Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and AbbVie are significant participants. The United States is the most significant market for pharmaceutical businesses: the research firm Torreya estimated in 2021 that US companies held about 40% of the global pharmaceutical industry’s market valuation (a measure of company value, not of sales).

Consumer and governmental pressure on drug corporations to lower costs and broaden access to pharmaceuticals has intensified. Under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Medicare can negotiate prices for selected drugs, starting with Part D drugs in 2026 and Part B drugs in 2028.

How Do the Largest Pharmaceutical Companies in the USA Compare?

The table below compares the companies in this article, plus Eli Lilly and Amgen, two of the largest US-headquartered drugmakers that were missing from the 2023 list. Revenue is total company revenue for financial year 2025 in US dollars, as compiled in Wikipedia’s list of the largest biomedical companies by revenue from each company’s results; figures for non-US companies are converted from their reporting currencies. Employee counts come from each company’s Wikipedia article and are for the year shown.

Revenue is only one way to rank drugmakers. Johnson & Johnson’s total includes medical devices, and Wikipedia describes Eli Lilly as the most valuable pharmaceutical company worldwide even though J&J earns more revenue. For a wider view that includes insurers and care providers, see this list of the largest healthcare companies in the USA.

Which of These Pharmaceutical Companies Are Not American?

Four of the ten companies in the original list are headquartered in Europe. They are included because each runs a large US business, but they are not US companies:

• Novartis is based in Basel, Switzerland; its US arm, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, is headquartered in New Jersey.
• Sanofi is based in Paris, France; it moved its US headquarters from Bridgewater to Morristown, New Jersey, in May 2025.
• Roche is based in Basel, Switzerland; its US operations are centered on Genentech in South San Francisco, California.
• AstraZeneca is headquartered in Cambridge, UK; its US base is in Wilmington, Delaware, and its shares have traded directly on the New York Stock Exchange since February 2026.

What Has Changed Since This List Was First Published?

Several of the companies on this list have moved, split up or made major acquisitions since June 2023:

• Pfizer moved its headquarters to The Spiral at Hudson Yards in April 2023, bought Seagen for $43 billion in December 2023 and acquired Metsera in November 2025. Pfizer’s revenue peaked at $100.33 billion in 2022, driven by COVID-19 products, and was $62.58 billion in 2025.
• Johnson & Johnson separated its consumer health business as Kenvue in 2023; Kimberly-Clark agreed to acquire Kenvue in November 2025.
• Merck & Co. acquired Prometheus Biosciences in April 2023 for $10.8 billion and Verona Pharma in 2025.
• Novartis spun off its generics business, Sandoz, on October 4, 2023.
• Bristol Myers Squibb moved its corporate headquarters to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, in July 2023.
• Amgen bought Horizon Therapeutics, a rare-disease drugmaker, for $27.8 billion in October 2023.
• Sanofi turned its consumer health division, Opella, into an independent company on April 30, 2025.
• Eli Lilly reached a $1 trillion market capitalization in November 2025; tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) made up 56% of its 2025 revenue.

Other Major US Pharmaceutical Companies Worth Knowing

Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company is an Indianapolis-based drugmaker founded in 1876. Eli Lilly reported revenue of $65.18 billion and net income of $20.64 billion in 2025, with about 50,000 employees. Lilly brought exenatide, the first GLP-1 receptor agonist, to market in 2005; its drug tirzepatide was approved by the FDA as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes in May 2022 and as Zepbound for obesity in November 2023.

Amgen

Amgen is a biotechnology company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California, founded in 1980. Amgen reported revenue of $36.75 billion in 2025 and about 31,500 employees. Its major products include Prolia and Xgeva (denosumab) for osteoporosis and bone disease, which brought in $6.6 billion in 2025, and the cholesterol drug Repatha. More companies of this kind are covered in the list of top biotech companies in the USA.

Other US names in the revenue rankings

Other US-headquartered companies with more than $10 billion in 2025 revenue in Wikipedia’s biomedical ranking include Abbott Laboratories ($44.33 billion), GE HealthCare ($20.63 billion), Kenvue ($15.12 billion) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ($14.34 billion).

How Are US Drug Prices Regulated?

US prescription drug prices are among the highest in the world, and total US spending on prescription medicines exceeded $600 billion in 2023, according to Wikipedia’s article on US drug prices. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 lets the US Department of Health and Human Services negotiate prices of selected drugs covered by Medicare Part D from 2026 and Medicare Part B from 2028.

The first negotiated prices already affect companies on this list. According to Wikipedia, the price of AbbVie’s Imbruvica was cut by 38%, to $9,319 per month, effective in 2026 under the Inflation Reduction Act. What patients actually pay depends on their insurance coverage, which this guide to health insurance companies in the USA explains. This article is general information, not investment or medical advice.

How Was This List Put Together?

This list covers large pharmaceutical companies with a major US presence; it is not an official ranking. The companies appear in the order of the original 2023 article, which was not a strict revenue ranking. The September 2026 update checked each company’s headquarters, founding date, independence (acquisitions, spin-offs and renames), employee count and latest revenue against Wikipedia’s company articles and its revenue ranking, which cite each company’s annual results. Readers who need exact numbers should use each company’s annual report or SEC filing. Businesses that bring medicines into a country should also read this guide to importing medical and pharmaceutical goods.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the largest pharmaceutical company in the USA?

Johnson & Johnson is the largest US-headquartered pharmaceutical company by revenue, with $94.19 billion in 2025, though about 36% came from medical devices. By market value, Eli Lilly leads: it became the first healthcare company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization in November 2025.

Is Pfizer still the biggest drugmaker in America?

No. Pfizer’s revenue peaked at $100.33 billion in 2022 because of COVID-19 product sales, then fell to $62.58 billion in 2025. That put Pfizer behind Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Merck & Co. by 2025 revenue.

Where are most US pharmaceutical companies headquartered?

New Jersey hosts more of the companies on this list than any other state: Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick), Merck & Co. (Rahway) and Bristol Myers Squibb (Princeton), plus the US arms of Novartis and Sanofi. Pfizer is in New York City, Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, AbbVie in North Chicago, and Amgen and Gilead in California.

Are Novartis, Roche, Sanofi and AstraZeneca American companies?

No. Novartis and Roche are Swiss companies based in Basel, Sanofi is based in Paris, and AstraZeneca is headquartered in Cambridge, UK. All four have large US operations, and AstraZeneca’s shares have been listed directly on the New York Stock Exchange since February 2026.

What does Gilead Sciences make?

Gilead Sciences makes antiviral drugs for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza and COVID-19. Its HIV medicines include Biktarvy, and its hepatitis C treatments include Sovaldi and Harvoni. Gilead is headquartered in Foster City, California.

How much does the United States spend on prescription drugs?

The United States spent more than $600 billion on prescription medicines in 2023, more per person than any other country, according to Wikipedia’s article on US prescription drug prices. For comparison, the global pharmaceutical market was valued at about $1.48 trillion in 2022.

For care providers rather than drugmakers, see the list of top hospitals in the USA.

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