Cancer Drugs Drive Nearly One-Fifth Of Pharma Sales

The global pharmaceutical industry’s revenue is increasingly concentrated in a handful of high-value drug classes, with oncology, diabetes/obesity treatments and immunology leading the charge.

As Statista’s Tristan Gaudiat details below, according to estimates from Statista Market Insights, cancer drugs alone generated over $217 billion last year, making oncology the largest therapeutic segment, driving nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of all pharmaceutical sales.

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Antidiabetic medicines rank second, with estimated sales of over $85 billion in 2025, contributing 7 percent to global market revenues.

Some of the top-grossing drugs include Merck’s Keytruda, an immunotherapy for multiple cancers with almost $30 billion in revenue in 2024, as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic/Wegovy, used for diabetes treatment and weight loss, and bringing in more than $10 billion annually for their parent companies.