Welcome to Scrip 100 2017.

This year the Scrip 100 universe is bigger than ever. We have been tunneling into the 2015 full year financial data of 620 companies to continue the Scrip 100 series, and using this data we can see even more clearly the structure of a top-heavy industry. This data allows Scrip to  x-ray an industry dominated by 100 companies that are responsible for 95% of all drug sales, an industry in which half of all pharmaceutical sales were generated by just 11 companies. The analysis of this radiography is contained within our headline chapter to download and digest.

And financial analysis isn’t the only jewel to be found from our thorough excavations. Included in the online Scrip 100 offering this year is our Legacy chapter that includes PDFs of Scrip 100 since 2009. Alongside this, subscribers can also take excel files of all data sets from 2007 to the present day.

And of course we couldn’t discuss the fortunes and prospects of the pharmaceutical industry without taking a long hard look at the political situation, both in Europe and the US, and what it means for a truly international and interconnected trade. Uncertainty seems to be the rope that binds the political surprises of Brexit and the new US president-elect, we shall be watching over the next 12 months as policy makers and governments work to ensure that all changes offer the smoothest ride possible to drug makers, regulators and of course to patients. Whether or not this becomes a reality is yet to be seen.

Jo Shorthouse,

Editor, Scrip 100