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Key Players in the Biosimilar Market in 2025
Chapter of the 2025 Global Biosimilars Report
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The biosimilar market is diverse, with large pharmaceutical companies, generic drug manufacturers, smaller biotech firms, and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) each playing distinct roles.
Large pharmaceutical companies have traditionally played a key role in the biosimilar market. Pharma companies often have the financial resources and expertise to manage end-to-end biosimilar development and commercialization. They may develop biosimilars internally or acquire/partner with smaller biotech firms to expand their biosimilar portfolios.
Traditionally focused on small-molecule generic drugs, generic pharmaceutical companies are increasingly expanding into the biosimilars market to diversify their portfolios. These companies use their lifecycle management experience to market biosimilars, aiming to offer lower-cost alternatives to branded biologics. They often enter partnerships to develop and market biosimilars globally.
Specifically, in the early phases of the biosimilar market, smaller biotech firms have pioneered the research and development (R&D) of biosimilars. These companies are often at the forefront of biosimilar innovation, focusing on developing high-quality biosimilars for various therapeutic areas. They may enter into partnerships for marketing and distribution, leveraging the commercial capabilities of larger partners.
While not having a biosimilar portfolio themselves, CDMOs play a crucial role as partners to both large pharmaceutical companies and specialized biotech firms. They support R&D activities and provide critical infrastructure in scaling up biosimilar production while ensuring competitive manufacturing costs.
This article analyzes the strategies of the players defining the global biosimilar landscape right now, including companies like Sandoz, Pfizer, and Amgen.
The Market Landscape Today
Despite the significant growth of the biosimilar market and continued tailwinds, several companies that entered the market in its early phases have since decided to prioritize it strategically because of the R&D investment required and the growing competitive field. This includes notable divestments of whole biosimilar product portfolios and business units, such as Merck’s sale of its biosimilar business to Fresenius Kabi in 2017, Momenta’s sale to Mylan in 2018, and, more recently, the Novartis spin-off of Sandoz. Similarly, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, and Eli Lilly have exited or scaled back their biosimilar ambitions to focus on the development of innovative biologics.
Looking at the commercial landscape for biosimilars today, it is largely dominated by well-established generics and pharmaceutical players, specifically those with extensive experience and operational excellence in the manufacturing of biologics.
These companies can leverage their global reach and robust R&D capabilities to strengthen their positions in the biosimilar market while maintaining relatively low operational cost levels that allow them to sustain a competitive position in the market against price erosion over time.
The Top Players by Market Share
Today, the biosimilar market is dominated by well-established generics and pharmaceutical companies with extensive biologics manufacturing experience, global reach, and strong R&D capabilities. In 2023, eight major commercialization players captured the top 70% of the global biosimilar market. The three global biosimilar juggernauts—Sandoz, Pfizer, and Amgen—control 50% of the global biosimilar market between them. |
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis. |
Today, the biosimilar market is dominated by well-established generics and pharmaceutical companies with extensive biologics manufacturing experience, global reach, and strong R&D capabilities.
In 2023, eight major commercialization players captured the top 70% of the global biosimilar market. The three global biosimilar juggernauts—Sandoz, Pfizer, and Amgen—control 50% of the global biosimilar market between them.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
Sandoz
Sandoz, formerly a Novartis company, has been a major player in the biosimilar space since the Novartis acquisition of Hexal in 2005. Sandoz’s company strategy centers exclusively on biosimilars and generics, a position that was solidified in 2023 when it became a standalone company after a successful spin-off from Novartis. In recent years, Sandoz has captured a progressively larger part of the biosimilar market by revenue, growing at 18% from 2020 to 2024 to become the global biosimilar market leader. In 2006, Sandoz became the first company to receive regulatory approval for a biosimilar in Europe for its Omnitrope, a somatropin biosimilar. Since then, Sandoz has commercialized 10 additional biosimilars, with another 23 molecules in the development pipeline, across eight different therapeutic areas. |  Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis. |
Sandoz, formerly a Novartis company, has been a major player in the biosimilar space since the Novartis acquisition of Hexal in 2005. Sandoz’s company strategy centers exclusively on biosimilars and generics, a position that was solidified in 2023 when it became a standalone company after a successful spin-off from Novartis.
In recent years, Sandoz has captured a progressively larger part of the biosimilar market by revenue, growing at 18% from 2020 to 2024 to become the global biosimilar market leader.
In 2006, Sandoz became the first company to receive regulatory approval for a biosimilar in Europe for its Omnitrope, a somatropin biosimilar. Since then, Sandoz has commercialized 10 additional biosimilars, with another 23 molecules in the development pipeline, across eight different therapeutic areas.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
With its expertise in biosimilars, Sandoz has developed several molecules in-house, but part of its market leadership strategy has been to systematically acquire or license assets from biosimilar developers. Of its 11 marketed biosimilars, four of those molecules were brought into the Sandoz portfolio from an external partner. Similarly, for its pipeline assets, Sandoz entered licensing agreements for its trastuzumab and bevacizumab biosimilar molecules.
The Sandoz approach to portfolio expansion focuses on late-stage assets and has allowed the company to bring some biosimilars to market more quickly. This approach also allows Sandoz to strengthen its ability to expand its biosimilar footprint across therapeutic areas and geographies. For example, in 2024, Sandoz acquired the Coherus/Formycon Cimerli® business. This acquisition not only expands Sandoz’s biosimilar portfolio in the US, but it solidifies its position for future ophthalmic launches in that market, like Sandoz’s Eylea (aflibercept) biosimilar that received FDA approval in August 2024.
Beyond its investments in molecule development, Sandoz has also made significant financial commitments to expand its biomanufacturing capabilities. In recent years, the company allocated over $1 billion to expand its state-of-the-art facilities that develop and manufacture biosimilars.
Source: Company website.
Sources: Global Data; Alira Health analysis.
Note: Asset first approval date in the US or Europe.
Pfizer
| Complementing its position as a leader in novel therapeutics, Pfizer was the global number two player in the biosimilar space in 2024, capturing 13.9% of the market by revenue, just behind Sandoz at 17.0%. The company’s journey to becoming a significant biosimilar player began in 2015 with its acquisition of Hospira, a US-based pharmaceutical and medical device company. Among other assets, this deal brought in exclusive commercialization agreements for the already marketed infliximab, epoetin alfa, and filgrastim biosimilars, which in 2024 still accounted for almost 45% of Pfizer’s biosimilars revenue. |
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis. |
Complementing its position as a leader in novel therapeutics, Pfizer was the global number two player in the biosimilar space in 2024, capturing 13.9% of the market by revenue, just behind Sandoz at 17.0%. The company’s journey to becoming a significant biosimilar player began in 2015 with its acquisition of Hospira, a US-based pharmaceutical and medical device company. Among other assets, this deal brought in exclusive commercialization agreements for the already marketed infliximab, epoetin alfa, and filgrastim biosimilars, which in 2024 still accounted for almost 45% of Pfizer’s biosimilars revenue.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
Sources: Global Data; Alira Health analysis. Note: Asset first approval date in the US or in Europe
While 2019 to 2022 saw Pfizer increasing its biosimilar revenues and gaining biosimilar market share to its current position near the top of the market, in 2021 the company communicated that biosimilars would become an opportunistic activity rather than a key driver of its future strategy. This shift in focus to best-in-class, first-in-class original medicines explains Pfizer’s current pipeline, which only includes new molecular entities and product enhancements—no biosimilars. In 2023, Pfizer expanded its biosimilar production agreement with South Korean CDMO Samsung Bioepis to a total value of $897 million, signaling a future commitment to its existing biosimilar portfolio through 2029.
| Looking at the year-over-year revenue 2023 to 2024, Pfizer’s biosimilar market share dropped from 16.5% to 13.3%. Still, the Pfizer biosimilar portfolio counts eight marketed biosimilars, with six in the oncology therapeutic areas and two in immunology. Together, this portfolio brought in $4.0 billion in revenue in 2024. |  Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis. |
Looking at the year-over-year revenue 2023 to 2024, Pfizer’s biosimilar market share dropped from 16.5% to 13.3%. Still, the Pfizer biosimilar portfolio counts eight marketed biosimilars, with six in the oncology therapeutic areas and two in immunology. Together, this portfolio brought in $4.0 billion in revenue in 2024.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
Amgen
From its position as a global leader in biologics development and manufacturing, Amgen has consistently been a key player in the biosimilar market. In 2024, Amgen captured 12.3% of the global biosimilar market, an incremental decrease from its 13.6% market share in 2023. With a pipeline deeply rooted in oncology and immunology, Amgen’s biosimilar revenues totaled $3.7 billion across six molecules in 2024. Amgen’s success as a top three biosimilar market leader draws from its biologics expertise, but the company also achieved its current market position through its 2011 strategic collaboration with Watson Pharmaceuticals. Under the co-development agreement, Amgen assumed primary responsibility for developing, manufacturing, and initially commercializing several oncology biosimilars. Among others, the Watson deal included biosimilars for adalimumab, rituximab, trastuzumab, and bevacizumab, which together comprised 90% of Amgen’s 2024 revenue. |  Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.  Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis. |
From its position as a global leader in biologics development and manufacturing, Amgen has consistently been a key player in the biosimilar market. In 2024, Amgen captured 12.3% of the global biosimilar market, an incremental decrease from its 13.6% market share in 2023. With a pipeline deeply rooted in oncology and immunology, Amgen’s biosimilar revenues totaled $3.7 billion across six molecules in 2024.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
Amgen’s success as a top three biosimilar market leader draws from its biologics expertise, but the company also achieved its current market position through its 2011 strategic collaboration with Watson Pharmaceuticals. Under the co-development agreement, Amgen assumed primary responsibility for developing, manufacturing, and initially commercializing several oncology biosimilars. Among others, the Watson deal included biosimilars for adalimumab, rituximab, trastuzumab, and bevacizumab, which together comprised 90% of Amgen’s 2024 revenue.
Sources: IQVIA; Alira Health analysis.
Since the approval of its adalimumab biosimilar in 2016, and the follow-up bevacizumab biosimilar approval in 2017, Amgen has reaffirmed its strategic focus on oncology and immunology. The Watson deal brought in Amgen’s oncology biosimilar portfolio and the company built its immunology portfolio through an in-house R&D effort. Now, expanding its therapeutic area footprint, Amgen’s biosimilar portfolio now also includes an Eylea (aflibercept) biosimilar.
Sources: Global Data; Alira Health analysis.
Note: Asset first approval date in the US or in Europe.