Given oncology's importance to the overall healthcare landscape, it is no surprise the field draws significant attention. Most large biopharma companies have a strong oncology presence, and oncology divisions account for important percentages of their overall business.

While many analysis are focused on individual drugs within oncology, this article aims to provide a broader perspective by looking at sales by the overall oncology therapeutic area. Doing so reveals some interesting insights:

1. Some portfolios are much more concentrated than others - consider Merck and Novartis:

Merck is the largest oncology player worldwide, yet ~90% of its sales come from a single drug, Keytruda.

Meanwhile, Novartis doesn't have any drugs in the top 15, yet thanks to its broad portfolio, it ranks as the 6th biggest player worldwide in oncology.

2. This list is more international: when looking at the 15 top individual drugs, all were made by either a US or European company.

That partly reflects that the US and Europe are the biggest pharma markets worldwide, and commercialization strength is vital to a successful drug.

Yet looking at the list of sales by therapeutic area overall, 3 non US/EU companies appear -Astellas Pharma and Takeda from Japan, and BeiGene, which has a dual base in China/US.

3. The importance of oncology sales to the overall business varies greatly by company. For BeiGene, it is almost the exclusive focus, while for a company like Eli Lilly, it is a strong yet less weighty as GLP-1s drive sales forward.