The Top 10 Big Pharma Companies by R&D Expenditures in 2025 have been published.
The year 2025 proved to be a period of serious challenges and strategic reconsideration for the global biopharmaceutical industry. Donald Trump's second administration brought sudden policy shifts, massive cuts to National Institutes of Health grants, and the threat of new tariffs. In response to this political and economic instability, most leading pharmaceutical giants significantly reduced their research and development (R&D) budgets.
Fierce Biotech has published its annual ranking of the ten largest companies by R&D investment. While the top 10 list remains unchanged from last year, the balance of power within it has changed significantly (the percentage change in budget compared to the previous year is indicated in parentheses next to the amount).
Ranking leaders: Merck maintains its position, Roche overtakes J&J
1. Merck & Co. — $15.79 billion (-12%). Despite a 12% reduction in its overall budget, Merck confidently holds the top spot in the global rankings for the second year in a row. The decrease in expenses is due to a relatively quiet year in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). However, the company's internal investments in the discovery of new molecules and early clinical development, on the contrary, increased by $700 million, reaching $10.8 billion. The main task of Merck's research division (24,700 employees) is to prepare the portfolio for the imminent expiration of patent protection for their blockbuster drug Keytruda. In 2025, the company successfully obtained Phase III data on an oral PCSK9 inhibitor and a combination for the treatment of HIV.
2. Roche — $14.73 billion (-6%). The Swiss company rose from third to second place. Roche's primary focus remains oncology (specifically, the development of the KRAS inhibitor divarasib and giredestrant). However, the company's real breakthrough in 2025 will be its ambitions in the obesity market. Roche has announced its intention to become one of the top three companies in this segment and is actively developing its dual GLP -1/GIP receptor agonist CT-388, which showed comparable results to Eli Lilly's Zepbound in Phase II.
3. Johnson & Johnson — $14.66 billion (-14.9%) After many years in second place, J&J fell to third place due to a radical cut in its R&D budget by almost 15%. The company compensated for the reduction in internal research with aggressive acquisitions of external assets: 2025 began with the largest M&A deal of the year – the purchase of central nervous system specialist Intra-Cellular Therapies for $14.6 billion, followed by the acquisition of Halda Therapeutics for $3 billion. The year was also notable for J&J, which saw the spinoff of its orthopedic division, DePuy Synthes, into a separate company.
4. AstraZeneca — $14.23 billion (+5%). The British giant showed moderate investment growth, maintaining its fourth place (its R&D budget accounted for 24.2% of total revenue). Despite several clinical setbacks (including the failure of amyloidosis and lung cancer trials), AstraZeneca actively invested in the future: the company allocated $15 billion for development in China and signed an $18.5 billion deal with CSPC Pharmaceutical for obesity drugs.
The meteoric rise: Eli Lilly's triumph and Novartis's appetite
5. Eli Lilly — $13.34 billion (+21.4%). Lilly became the biggest phenomenon of the year, climbing two spots in the rankings. The phenomenal success of its obesity drug tirzepatide (which surpassed Keytruda in sales) made Eli Lilly the first pharmaceutical company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization. Huge revenues allowed the R&D budget to increase by more than 21%. The funds were used to launch the industry's largest supercomputer, LillyPod (jointly with Nvidia), acquire the gene therapy company Adverum, and make large-scale investments in artificial intelligence for drug development (deals with Insilico Medicine and XtalPi).
6. Novartis — $11.2 billion (+12%). The Swiss corporation saw the biggest jump in the ranking, climbing three spots. The increase in spending was driven by colossal M&A activity: Novartis spent $12 billion on the acquisition of Avidity Biosciences (to become a leader in the treatment of neuromuscular diseases) and $2.9 billion on MorphoSys. At the same time, the company continued a rigorous cleanup of its pipeline, abandoning unpromising projects.
7. Pfizer — $10.44 billion (-4%). Pfizer cut its budget but climbed to seventh place. The company's biggest event of the year was the acquisition of biotech Metsera for $10 billion after a heated battle with Novo Nordisk for this obesity treatment asset. Pfizer also licensed a GLP-1 candidate from Fosun Pharmaceutical for $1.9 billion, while actively divesting assets it acquired from the Seagen acquisition.
8. Bristol Myers Squibb — $9.95 billion (-11%) BMS launched a strict cost-cutting program with the goal of saving $1.5 billion over 20 months, which resulted in a reduction in the R&D budget and the closure of several clinical programs (for example, alnuktamab).
9. AbbVie — $9.1 billion (-28.9%). After posting an incredible 66% investment growth in 2024, AbbVie saw the deepest decline in the top 10 (down almost 29%) in 2025. Cerevel's schizophrenia treatment candidate, acquired for $8.7 billion, failed in Phase 2, costing the company $3.5 billion. Nevertheless, AbbVie continued its acquisitions, paying $2.1 billion for in vivo CAR-T therapy specialist Capstan Therapeutics and $1.2 billion for Gilgamesh. Meanwhile, its internal research staff was cut.
10. Sanofi — $8.85 billion (+6%). The French company slightly increased its budget, but the year proved a disastrous one in clinical terms. A series of failures in trials of drugs for asthma, psoriasis, and COPD led to the board's trust being exhausted. As a result, CEO Paul Hudson was fired and replaced by Belén Garrijo (former CEO of Merck KGaA), who was tasked with urgently increasing the productivity and innovative potential of the R&D division.