Top 10 Biotech Bay Companies by Revenue

BioSpace’s Biotech Bay Hotbed includes biotech and biopharmaceutical companies that are located in San Francisco and Northern California. The companies listed below are the top ten companies headquartered in Biotech Bay based on 2018 revenue. Unless otherwise noted, all data was retrieved from Marketline.

1. Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Headquarters: Foster City, CA
2018 revenue: $22,127 billion
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: -15.24%
Ticker Symbol: GILD [NASD]

Gilead Technologies is a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, liver diseases, cancer and several other conditions. It has numerous products on the market, including Atripla and Truvada for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, and Zydelig and Yescarta for treatment of different types of cancers. In their management overview, they describe the company as “a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative medicines in areas of unmet medical need.” For 2018, the company reported an overall profit of $5.5 billion.

2. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
Headquarters: San Rafael, CA
2018 revenue: $1,491 billion
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 13.47%
Ticker Symbol: BMRN [NASD]

BioMarin is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for various different conditions. The company has several products on the market, including Kuvan (sapropterin dihydrochloride) for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), and Vimizim for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis IV Type A (MPS IVA). Kuvan and Vimizim accounted for greater than 60% of BioMarin’s 2017 revenue. The company recently received FDA approval for Brineura, a drug to treat neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 (CLN2), a form of Batten disease. According to the company statement, BioMarin is a “company that develops and commercializes innovative therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. We select product candidates for diseases and conditions that represent a significant unmet medical need, have well-understood biology and provide an opportunity to be first-to-market or offer a significant benefit over existing products.” In spite of their significant revenue, BioMarin reported an overall loss of $-77 million for 2018.

3. Nektar Therapeutics
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $1,193 billion
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 287.34%
Ticker Symbol: NKTR [NASD]

Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in developing treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases and chronic pain. The company’s primary source of income comes from a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb for NKTR-214, an immune-oncology drug currently in development. Nektar also collects royalties for two other drug collaborations, Movantik and Moventig (with AstraZeneca), and Adynovate (with Baxalta). Nektar Therapeutics is focused on drug development only. According to their corporate strategy, Nektar “focuses on developing a pipeline of drug candidates that utilize its PEGylation and polymer conjugate technology platforms to improve the benefits of drugs for patients. The company partners with the top biopharmaceutical companies to bring new products to market, to fund further clinical development, manage the global regulatory filing process and market and sell drugs in one or more geographies.” These partnerships are lucrative, allowing Nektar to report an overall profit of $681 million for 2018.

4. Exelixis, Inc.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $854 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 88.94%
Ticker Symbol: EXEL [NASD]

Exelixis is a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs to treat cancer. Its four current market products are Cabometyx (cabozantinib), for treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma, Cometriq (cabozantinib), for treatment of metastatic medullary thyroid carcinoma, Cotellic (cobimetinib), for treatment of BRAF V600E or V600K mutation-positive advanced melanoma, and Minnebro (esaxerenone) for treatment of hypertension (in Japan). Their stated corporate strategy is “to build cabozantinib into a major oncology franchise. It also intends to advance its internal efforts on treatment of cancers for which cabozantinib has significant therapeutic and commercial potential in the short term.” Strong sales in 2018 allowed Exelixis, Inc. to report a net profit for 2018 of $690 million.

5. Pharmacyclics
Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA
2018 revenue: $729 million (Source ZoomInfo)
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: unknown
Ticker Symbol: ABBV [NYSE] – parent company Abbvie

Pharmacyclics, a subsidiary of Abbvie, is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and immunological disorders. Currently, Pharmacyclics has one product on the market, Imbruvica (ibrutinib), for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, graft versus host disease, mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas and solid tumors. Their website states, “We will know that our mission has been achieved when patients and their families have rediscovered the Magic of Normal – where disease no longer defines the every day.”

6. FibroGen, Inc.
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $213 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 62.6%
Ticker Symbol: FGEN [NASD]

FibroGen, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the treatment of anemia, cancer and fibrotic disease. Currently, FibroGen has several products in varying stages of development, including roxadustat, for the treatment of anemia and chronic kidney disease. FibroGen is also conducting Phase III trials with pamrevlumab, for the potential treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and pancreatic cancer. A portion of FibroGen’s business overview reads, “We have applied our pioneering expertise in hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) biology to develop innovative medicines for the treatment of anemia, fibrotic disease, and cancer.” Since FibroGen is currently in the development stage and have no products at market, they reported a net loss for 2018 of $-86 million.

7. Principia Biopharma
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $69 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 1280%
Ticker Symbol: PRNB [NASD]

Principia Biopharma is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on drugs for the treatment of immune disorders and cancer. They have three current pipeline products, PRN1008, a BTK inhibitor for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, PRN2246 – a BTK inhibitor for Multiple Sclerosis, and PRN1371- a FGFR1-4 inhibitor for solid tumors. The company’s primary income has come in the form of stock sales, raising over $413 million dollars in 2018 in three separate stock offerings. In the About Us section of their webpage, they state “We are a late-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing transformative oral therapies to patients with significant unmet medical needs in immunology and oncology. Our proprietary Tailored Covalency® platform enables us to design and develop reversible and irreversible covalent small molecule inhibitors with potencies and selectivities that we believe will rival those of injectable biologics, yet maintain the convenience of a pill.” Thanks to their strong stock offering, Principia Biopharma reported a net profit of $18 million for 2018 despite not having a product at market.

8. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.
Headquarters: Novato, CA
2018 revenue: $51 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 1600%
Ticker Symbol: RARE [NASD]

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in developing treatments for rare and ultra-rare diseases. Ultragenyx is currently developing numerous potential products, including KRN23, for the treatment of X-linked hypophosphatemia, and tumor-induced osteomalacia. The company’s overview states, “We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the identification, acquisition, development, and commercialization of novel products for the treatment of serious rare and ultra-rare diseases, with a focus on serious, debilitating genetic diseases. We target diseases for which the unmet medical need is high, the biology for treatment is clear, and for which there are no currently approved therapies.” In spite of their impressive revenue, the company reported a net loss of $-198 million for 2018 due to the fact that it does not yet have a product on the market.

9. Five Prime Therapeutics
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $50 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 25%
Ticker Symbol: FPRX [NASD]

Five Prime Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of treatments for cancer and inflammatory disorders. In addition, Five Prime has discovered and developed a line of therapeutic proteins. While they don’t yet have drugs at market, they do have several in development, most notably, cabiralizumab, an antibody that inhibits colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF1R). Five Prime has partnered with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the development of cabiralizumab. In part, their company overview reads, “We are focusing our activities on immuno-oncology and targeted cancer therapies, which we believe to have significant therapeutic potential. We leverage our differentiated discovery capabilities and protein therapeutic generation and engineering capabilities to identify and validate targets that we believe could be useful in oncology and generate and pre-clinically test therapeutic proteins, including antibodies and fusion proteins, directed to or containing the targets we identify and validate.” Due to the fact that they are currently a pre-market company in the clinical phase of development, the company reported on overall net loss for 2018 of $-140 million.

10. Rigel Pharmaceuticals
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2018 revenue: $45 million
Increase/decrease over 2017 revenue: 1025%
Ticker Symbol: RIGL [NASD]

Rigel Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that develops drug treatments for a variety of medical specialties, including oncology and immunology. While Rigel has numerous drugs in clinical trials, one of their drugs, Tavalisse (fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate), received FDA approval in April of 2018. Tavalisse treats chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in adult patients. According to their company statement, “We are a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering, developing and providing novel small molecule drugs that significantly improve the lives of patients with immune and hematologic disorders, cancer and rare diseases. Our pioneering research focuses on signaling pathways that are critical to disease mechanisms.” As Rigel did not have a product on the market until April, they reported an overall net loss of $-70 million for 2018.