Take A Look: Top Biotech Companies Of The  World

The biotech industry is one of the biggest sectors globally. The year 2015 has been quite challenging for the sector - in the first half, it continued what has been a multi-year rally and at the same time, there had been concerns about a bubble in the biotech sector, according to Seeking Alpha.

“The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF saw a sharp pullback in mid-July. The sell-off continued until the end of August, with IBB dropping from around $400 to just under $325”, Seeking Alpha reported.

While the sector has seen some corrections from time to time, this in particular was sharper than any seen in recent years. However, as the markets stabilized towards the end of August, IBB re-bounded, gaining nearly 10% in three weeks.

Going by market capitalization, the top independent biotech companies listed on a stock exchange as of June 2015 include (inputs taken from Wikipedia):

Johnson & Johnson:

With a market cap of $258.3 billion in the second quarter of 2015, Johnson & Johnson sits on the top slot. Headquartered in New Jersey, it is an American multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer.

According to Market Realist, Johnson & Johnson’s revenues have increased, on an annual basis, over the past few years following the restructuring of its business segments and strong performance of some of its key products including Xarelto, Zytiga, Remicade, Stelara, and Olysio among others. However, the estimates show a decline of ~5.6% for 2015 and growth of ~3.0% and ~4.3% for 2016 and 2017, respectively.

In an article published on The Motley Fool, George Budwell says that three biotech companies - Agenus, Exelixis, and Geron Corp. – could have breakout years in 2016. Geron’s stock gained over 50% this year, fueled by the strong clinical progress of its first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, as a treatment for a variety of blood-based cancers.

Earlier this month, Geron also suggested that imetelstat is an effective and safe treatment for essential thrombocythemia based on a small midstage trial.

“The implication from this clinical update is that Geron and its partner, Johnson & Johnson -- via its biotech subsidiary Janssen -- will soon advance the drug into pivotal-stage trials, as previously planned”, Budwell added.

Roche

It had a market cap of $224.4 billion in Q2 2015 and holds the second rank. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has bearer shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company owns the American biotechnology company Genentech, which is a wholly owned affiliate, and the Japanese biotechnology company Chugai Pharmaceuticals as well as the Tucson, Arizona-based Ventana. Earlier this month, reports suggested that F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. has struck up an alliance with SQZ Biotech of Boston to speed development of SQZ’s CellSqueeze drug delivery system.

Novartis

Novartis International AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland. In July 2015, Novartis had a market-cap of around $280 billion making it the largest healthcare company by this metric. In 1998, the company made headlines with its biotechnology licensing agreement with the University of California at Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. The agreement expired in 2003.

Seeking Alpha reported that Novartis has several deals with international biotech companies and is one of the leading pharma-biotech hybrids.

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut. It has a market cap of $193.7 billion in the second quarter of 2015. In a recent deal worth up to $1 billion, San Diego biotech BioAtla is sharing its immuno-oncology assets with the company, mixing and matching technologies in hopes of hitting on a winning combination.

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, with production facilities in seven countries, and affiliates or offices in 75 countries. The Berkeley, CA-based biotechnology company, which develops anti-body based therapeutics, recently said it will receive a $5 million upfront payment and up to $290 million in additional payments from Novo Nordisk, The Street reported.