Orphan Drugs Among 2015's Top 10 Best-Selling Medications

Orphan drugs, drugs intended to prevent, diagnose or treat rare diseases/disorders, are huge sellers for the pharmaceutical industry.

NPR, citing data from EvaluatePharma, noted that seven of the 10 best-selling drugs in the United States throughout 2015 were given an orphan drug status. The main issue at hand is that some of the drugs are not true orphans in the sense that they were first approved for the mass market but later won approval for the treatment of a rare disease.

For example, AbbVie Inc (NYSE: ABBV)'s Humira was granted orphan drug designation for moderate to severe HS (Hurley Stage II and Hurley Stage III disease), yet the same therapy can be used for the treatment of many other conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Best-Selling Drugs

Nevertheless, here is a list of the top 10 best-selling drugs in 2015, with orphan drugs asterisked:

1. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD)'s Harvoni ($10.09 billion in sales) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.
2. AbbVie's Humira* ($8.41 billion in sales) for the treatment of various medical conditions including hidradenitis suppurativa.
3. Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN)'s Enbrel* (5.10 billion in sales) for the treatment of five chronic diseases, including moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
4. Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE: SNY)'s Lantus ($4.46 billion in sales) for the treatment of type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
5. Janssen Biotech's Remicade* ($4.45 billion in sales) for the treatment of arthritis, Crohn's disease and others.
6. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)'s Prevnar 13 ($4.03 billion in sales) for the treatment of serious diseases such as meningitis.
7. Biogen Inc (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Genentech's Rituxan* ($3.91 billion in sales) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
8. Amgen's Neulasta* ($3.89 billion in sales) for the treatment of neutropenia.
9. Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG)'s Revlimid* ($3.54 billion in sales) for the treatment of conditions including deletion 5q myelodysplastic syndromes.
10. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ADR) (NYSE: TEVA)'s Copaxone* ($3.24 billion in sales) to prevent the relapse of multiple sclerosis.