Bristol-Myers Squibb earns almost everything from patented medicines, led by the blood thinner Eliquis. As Eliquis loses European protection and faces a government-set Medicare price, can newer brands replace it at similar profitability?
A prescription filled at a pharmacy is the end of a long chain, and Bristol-Myers Squibb works at its start. It discovers, makes and sells prescription medicines, mostly in the United States, and nearly all its income comes from those sales. Its best-known product is Eliquis, a blood-thinning tablet that lowers stroke risk in patients with an irregular heartbeat. While its patent protection lasts, a medicine has no identical cheaper copy.
Payers, including government programmes, buy these medicines, and the published list price is only the starting point. In the United States the company must grant discounts under public healthcare programmes; across most of Europe, governments set or cap prices at launch and keep revisiting them. Medicare, the US public health insurance for older people, now pays a government-set maximum price for Eliquis. What the company keeps depends on the price after discounts, how long protection lasts and who shares the profit. Eliquis profits, for example, are split with a partner company. Research is the heavy cost, about 21% of revenue in 2025. Complex biologic medicines (made using living cells) also need continuing investment in plants.
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