Pharmaceutical industry is one of the biggest businesses in the world. Total spending on prescription drugs globally are nearly $800 billion.

So, let's take a look at some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

NOTE: Courtesy, Contract Pharma

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Pfizer

Country: The United States

Global rank: 1

Pfizer is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation founded in 1849. The company is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States.

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Novartis

Country: Switzerland

Global rank: 2

Novartis is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number two in sales ($46.80 billion) among the worldwide industry in 2010.

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Merck & Co

Country: The United States

Global rank: 3

Merck & Co is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

The company was established in 1891 as the United States subsidiary of the German company now known as Merck KGaA.

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Sanofi

Country: France

Global rank: 4

Sanofi is a French multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, the world's fourth-largest by prescription sales.

Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but the firm also develops over-the-counter medication.

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GlaxoSmithKline

Country: The United Kingdom

Global rank: 5

GlaxoSmithKline is a British multinational pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines, and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

GSK has a portfolio of products for major disease areas including asthma, cancer, virus control, infections, mental health, diabetes, and digestive conditions.

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AstraZeneca

Country: The United Kingdom

Global rank: 6

AstraZeneca is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

It has a portfolio of products for major disease areas including cancer, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation.

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Johnson & Johnson

Country: The United States

Global rank: 7

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886.

Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500.

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Eli Lilly & Co

Country: The United States

Global rank: 8

Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States.

The company also has offices in Puerto Rico and 17 other countries. Their products are sold in about 125 countries. It was founded in 1876 by a pharmaceutical chemist, Eli Lilly, after whom the company was ultimately named.

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Abbott Laboratories

Country: The United States

Global rank: 9

Abbott Laboratories is an American-based global, diversified (multi-division) pharmaceuticals and health care products company. It has 90,000 employees and operates in over 130 countries.

The company headquarters are in Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician, Dr Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888. In 2010, Abbott had over $35 billion in revenue.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb

Country: The United States

Global rank: 10

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation.

Squibb was founded in 1858 by Edward Robinson Squibb in Brooklyn, New York, while Bristol-Myers was founded in 1887 by William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers in Clinton, New York.

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Teva

Country: Israel

Global rank: 11

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. It specialises in generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

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Takeda Pharma

Country: Japan

Global rank: 12

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company is the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. The company has over 19,000 employees worldwide.

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Bayer Schering

Country: Germany

Global rank: 13

Bayer Schering Pharma is a research-centered pharmaceutical company that was formed by the merger of Schering with Bayer on December 29, 2006.

The company was originally founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering (1824-1869). The company employs more than 26,000 people in 140 subsidiaries all over the world.

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Boehringer-Ingelheim

Country: Germany

Global rank: 14

Boehringer Ingelheim was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies.

Still headquartered in Ingelheim, it operates globally with 145 affiliates and more than 42,000 employees.

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Astellas

Country: Japan

Global rank: 15

Astellas Pharma is a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Astellas' franchise areas are urology, immunology (transplantation), dermatology, cardiology, and infectious disease.

Priority areas for R&D are infectious diseases, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, oncology, and diseases of the central nervous system.

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Daiichi-Sankyo

Country: Japan

Global rank: 16

Daiichi Sankyo is a global pharmaceutical company and the second largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. The company also owns the American biotechnology company Plexxikon and the German biotechnology company U3.

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Eisai

Country: Japan

Global rank: 17

Eisai is a Japanese pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo. It has some 10,000 employees, among them about 1,500 in research. Eisai is a member of the Topix 100 and Nikkei 225 indices.

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Otsuka Pharmaceutical

Country: Japan

Global rank: 18

Otsuka Pharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Osaka and Naruto, Japan. The company was established on August 10, 1964.

As of 2012, it employed 40,000 people worldwide. The company focuses on pharmaceuticals related to nutrition.

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Gilead Sciences

Country: The United States

Global rank: 19

Gilead Sciences is an American biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercialises therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on anti-viral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza.

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Mylan

Country: The United States

Global rank: 20

Mylan is a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

In 2007, Mylan acquired a controlling interest in India-based Matrix Laboratories Limited, a top producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients for generic drugs, and the generics business of Germany-based Merck KGaA.