Brand Finance data shows Johnson & Johnson remains the world’s most valuable pharmaceutical brand and emerges as the sector’s strongest brand this year
LONDON, 30 April 2026 – The global pharmaceutical sector is increasingly defined by diverging brand trajectories, and no comparison illustrates this more clearly than Novo Nordisk (brand value down 24% to USD4.2 billion) and Lilly (brand value up 26% to USD10.1 billion), according to the Healthcare 2026 report from Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy.
Once dominant in the weight-loss category, Novo Nordisk now faces intensifying competition from Lilly, alongside pricing pressure, lower-cost compounded alternatives, and pipeline concerns following setbacks beyond its GLP-1 portfolio. These pressures have weighed on investor confidence and brand equity, demonstrating how quickly leadership can shift in one of healthcare’s fastest-growing markets.
By contrast, Lilly continues to strengthen its position through surging demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound, supported by strong operational execution, expanded manufacturing capacity, and effective market penetration. Its rise reflects how sustained success in the pharmaceutical sector increasingly depends not only on scientific innovation, but also on execution, consumer trust, and market perception. Together, the contrasting fortunes of these two brands highlight a broader industry reality: in today’s high-growth therapeutic landscape, leadership is defined as much by commercial delivery as by medical breakthrough.
Johnson & Johnson (brand value up 14% to USD17.7 billion) retains its position as the world’s most valuable pharmaceutical brand for the eighth consecutive year. Its growth reflects the breadth and resilience of its portfolio, with strong performance across Innovative Medicine and MedTech helping to offset the decline in Stelara. Continued investment in research, innovation, and pipeline development further reinforces its long-term brand strength. Johnson & Johnson also remains the strongest pharma brand globally with Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 82.4/100 and AAA- rating.
Hugo Hensley, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, commented:
“The pharmaceutical sector shows that brand leadership today depends on far more than scientific innovation. The diverging trajectories of Novo Nordisk and Lilly highlights how quickly leadership can shift in high-growth markets, where execution, consumer trust, and commercial delivery are increasingly as important as medical breakthrough. Johnson & Johnson’s continued leadership reflects the value of resilience and portfolio breadth. Across healthcare, the strongest brands are those that combine innovation with adaptability, execution, and sustain stakeholder confidence.”
Amgen (brand value up 67% to USD3.1 billion) is the fastest-growing pharmaceutical brand in 2026, driven by strong product sales, strategic acquisitions, and pipeline advancement. The brand also recorded improved reputation scores across key markets including the UK, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and the US.
Medtronic (brand value up 10% to USD8.1 billion) retains its position as the most valuable medical devices brand for the second consecutive year, supported by innovation, new product launches, and strong performance across its cardiovascular, neuroscience, and diabetes portfolios. Fresenius (brand value up 9% to USD8 billion) remains second, while Abbott (brand value up 11% to USD6.5 billion) climbs one rank to third.
UnitedHealthcare (brand value up 1% to USD54.7 billion) remains the world’s most valuable healthcare services brand for the 11th consecutive year. Despite a four-point decline in its BSI score to 80.5/100, it also retains its position as the strongest brand in the sector, with an AAA- rating.
China’s pharmaceutical brands also continue to show resilience. Sinopharm (brand value up 10% to USD4.1 billion) remains the most valuable Chinese pharmaceutical brand, supported by the scale of its distribution business and growing international expansion. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical (brand value up 20% to USD3 billion) ranks second and emerges as the fastest-growing Chinese pharmaceutical brand, driven by rising demand for traditional Chinese medicine, consumer healthcare products, and herbal remedies.
Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding (brand value up 2% to USD1.5 billion) maintains a strong position through its integrated model across manufacturing, distribution, and retail pharmacy operations. In brand strength, Tong Ren Tang remains China’s strongest pharmaceutical brand, supported by deep consumer trust, more than 350 years of heritage, and growing demand for traditional and preventive healthcare.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
