Biggest Blockbuster Drugs of All Time

A prescription drug that surpasses $1 billion in sales is known as a blockbuster. It's a rare feat, but when a pharmaceutical company finds a true blockbuster drug the payoff is enormous. How enormous? Check out the three best-selling prescription drugs of all time.

Blockbuster Drug #1: Lipitor

Company: Pfizer (PFE)

Treats: High cholesterol

Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Be a smarter, better informed investor.

Save up to 74%

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

Sign up

Lifetime sales: $150.1 billion

Originally developed by Warner-Lambert, Lipitor was approved in the U.S. in 1997. Pfizer acquired its rival in 2000 to gain sole ownership of the cholesterol-fighting drug – and it was well worth it. At one point, Lipitor accounted for one-fourth of Pfizer’s sales. The patent expired in 2011.

Blockbuster Drug #2: Humira

Company: AbbVie (ABBV)

Treats: Ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, plaque psoriasis, ulcerative colitis

Lifetime sales: $109.2 billion

Doctors praise Humira’s ability to combat damaging inflammation caused by a number of diseases. Sales will likely peak in 2018 as the drug begins to lose patent protection, but it’s been a heck of a run. Humira is owned by AbbVie, an industry giant that was spun off from Abbott Labs in 2013.

Blockbuster Drug #3: Advair

Company: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

Treats: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma

Lifetime sales: $95.7 billion

Advair has been a huge seller since its approval in 2001. And even though its U.S. patent expired in 2010, no successful generic competitor has surfaced. Copying the drug isn’t the problem. Rather, rivals have yet to figure out how to copy the inhaler. Until they do, Glaxo investors can breathe easy.