Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2017

A year after biotech stocks began trending down, as investors retreated from the markets based on fears that public anger over rising drug costs would lead to price curbs imposed by Washington, the results can be seen in this year’s GEN list of Top 25 Biotech Companies.

The total market capitalization of the 25 companies on this year’s list has slid 14.5%, to 1.047 trillion, from $1.225 trillion last year. Yet this year’s total is still 5.6% above the combined $990.89 billion market cap of the Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2014, so investors who stuck out the volatile biotech market of the past year have something to show for their endurance.

Following is a list of 25 biotech companies, ranked by their market cap as of September 6 as furnished by the exchanges on which they trade their shares, or by other publicly available sources.

The minimum market cap of GEN Top-25 biotech companies this time around is just over $7 billion, compared with just under $10 billion a year ago, and $2.3 billion for the lowest of the Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2013, the first year GEN published this list.

While six biotechs showed market-cap gains, most companies listed lost market cap compared with 2015. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International showed the most erosion, falling from #6 to #22, reflecting the company’s sharp decline of its stock price—from $257.53 on July 1, 2015, to $30.27 on September 7—following a series of problems that include lawsuits over the pricing of its drugs, and the disclosure that the company used specialty pharmacies to store inventory and record the transactions as sales.

One company that would have placed #21 this year, Medivation, was not included this year because it is being acquired by Pfizer for $14 billion, in a deal expected to close by year’s end.