Innovation in the pharmaceutical market: a case study on monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The pharmaceutical industry plays a strategic social and economic role, addressing public health challenges while generating employment and income for the global economy. Its trajectory has been marked by technological advances and scientific breakthroughs, yet persistent concerns remain about high drug prices. These concerns have become particularly acute with the large-scale introduction of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which have reached the market at unprecedented prices. OBJECTIVE: This is a pioneering study that investigates the structure and dynamics of the pharmaceutical innovation market, focussing on mAbs, by examining market concentration, key players, and the influence of global shareholders on innovation dynamics. METHODS: Three complementary approaches were employed: (i) a descriptive analysis of the pharmaceutical market and the mAb segment; (ii) a quantitative analysis of concentration in the mAb innovation market; and (iii) an analysis to map shareholder partnerships and common ownership in the mAb innovation market. RESULTS: The pharmaceutical market is characterised by imperfect competition, especially in the form of monopolies and oligopolies, and high prices. These characteristics are even more prominent in the mAb market, making their purchase unfeasible at the individual level. Our findings demonstrate that the mAb innovation market is markedly more concentrated than that of chemical drugs. Innovation is driven by a limited set of firms, including Roche, Protein Design Labs (PDL), City of Hope, Celltech, AbbVie, Amgen, Novartis, GSK, and Biogen. Network analysis reveals that while companies hold greater operational power, shareholders often occupy more strategic and influential positions. BlackRock, UBS, and JPMorgan Chase emerged as some of the most prominent shareholders. CONCLUSION: The mAb innovation market exhibits higher concentration than the chemical drug market and remains dominated by actors from high-income countries. Expertise and innovation capacity are unevenly distributed, strengthening global asymmetries. In addition, shareholder influence appears to be concentrated within a small, powerful group, suggesting the existence of a “rich-club” phenomenon in the governance of pharmaceutical innovation.