Just how big is Pharma? A view on the US market.

According to the OCED, 2008 saw four of the five largest pharmaceutical companies increase their total revenue coming from the US market bymore than 30 percent. For Johnson & Johnson, that figure leapfrogs to 53 percent (excluding consumer products), while Pfizer's US revenue accounts for 41 percent of its total last year. GSK sees the figure falling at 38 percent, while Sanofi-Aventis is positioned at 31 percent. Just behind, Bayer still managed to accumulate 28 percent of total revenue for 2008 from the US market.

These figures found its way into a blog-post by McArdle and even though the original figures published were somewhat controversial and exaggerated the main concern that blog post raised at the time is still very valid.

Take for instance the massive $10.4 billion profit GSK experiencedin 2008 , or the $8 billion raised by Pfizer, which is now recognized as the world's largest pharmaceutical company following its merger with key rival Wyeth. These figures are massive by anyone's standards. As such, the pharmaceutical industry, which has largely weathered the economic crisis in comparison to other sectors, is fast being refered to as "too big to fail".

This tag was last applied to the financial services industry before the recession hit and the bailout began.

While it seems McArdle's online post might stick around in blog-readers' minds for all the wrong reasons, a look at the statistics behind the furore is certainly worthwhile. Big Pharma might be big, there can be no denying that; but too big? Well, we'll let you make up your own mind. Take a look at this infographic.

Click on the graphic to view a larger version.

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