AbbVie’s Humira has been the world’s best-selling drug since 2012, and if it hadn’t been for COVID-19 it would most likely have been on track to retain its position for the 10th year in row.

From the latest COVID-19 advances to the emergence of a game changer for heart failure, Scrip’s editor in chief Eleanor Malone reviews the big stories of the past three months. Safety issues around JAK inhibitors and AAV vector-based gene therapy were also to the fore, while biopharma financing continued apace.

A snapshot of the compensation packages of CEOs and R&D leaders of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, alongside median employee pay and key company performance metrics.

INFOGRAPHIC: A snapshot of the compensation packages of CEOs and R&D leaders of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, alongside median employee pay and key company performance metrics.

One hundred billion dollars. That is the combined revenue of the top 10 pharmaceuticals in 2020, marking the first year in which this threshold has been crossed. AbbVie’s Humira easily retained its lead in 2020 with $20.3bn in sales. Gilead Sciences’ HIV triple combo Biktarvy was the fastest climber, entering the top 10 in eighth place after 53.2% growth in a year, while Avastin, Enbrel and Rituxan fell out of the list.

A year after COVID-19 first turned the world upside down, executives across the biopharma industry consider what 2021 holds in store. The impact of the pandemic will have profound and long-lasting implications for a sector that has been at the heart of responding to the global health challenge.