Pfizer held percent of the world's pharmaceutical drug market in 2022. The global market for prescribed medicines is expected to be led by U.S. companies, accompanied by Swiss pharma giants Roche and Novartis.
Prescription and over-the-counter drugs
The total global prescription drug market – including generic and orphan drugs – was estimated at trillion U.S. dollars for 2022. Especially the orphan drug market is a major driver and expected to more than double its revenues in only seven years between 2019 and 2026. Prescribed (Rx) drugs are drugs which can be only obtained with a physician’s prescription. In contrast to these, there is the group of so called over-the-counter (OTC) drugs which can be purchased directly without a prescription. Typical examples for OTC drugs are lower-dosed pain killers like aspirin or ibuprofen.