December 11, 2025
Overview
As 2025 enters its final stretch, equity performance across large pharmaceutical companies shows a pronounced divergence. The gap between the strongest and weakest performers now exceeds 70 percentage points, underscoring how selectively the market is rewarding execution, portfolio resilience, and near-term visibility. Notably, despite reaching a one trillion dollar market capitalization milestone, Eli Lilly is not the top stock performer this year.
This analysis summarizes year-to-date stock price changes for selected global pharmaceutical companies and contextualizes the performance drivers already visible to investors.
2025 Year-to-Date Stock Price Performance
Stock price change is calculated as the percentage difference between the closing share price on January 2, 2025 and the closing share price on December 1, 2025, using publicly available market data.
| Rank | Company | Price Change (YTD) |
| 1 | Johnson & Johnson | +42.6% |
| 2 | GSK | +39.0% |
| 3 | AstraZeneca | +37.4% |
| 4 | Eli Lilly | +36.0% |
| 5 | Novartis | +32.8% |
| 6 | Amgen | +30.2% |
| 7 | AbbVie | +25.5% |
| 8 | Roche | +22.3% |
| 9 | Sanofi | +3.7% |
| 10 | Merck | +2.7% |
| 11 | Pfizer | -5.0% |
| 12 | Bristol Myers Squibb | -13.4% |
| 13 | Novo Nordisk | -44.7% |
Top Performers: Diversification, Visibility, and Clinical Momentum
Johnson & Johnson lead the group in 2025, reflecting investor confidence in its diversified pharmaceutical portfolio. Growth has been supported by continued strength in immunology, led by Stelara and Tremfya, sustained oncology momentum across assets such as Darzalex, Tecvayli, and Rybrevant, and expansion in neuroscience, particularly long-acting schizophrenia therapies. The breadth of revenue drivers appears to be a key differentiator.
GSK follows closely, driven primarily by its vaccines and infectious disease franchise. Shingrix continues its strong global trajectory, while Arexvy has benefited from expanded use and positive real-world RSV data. Investor sentiment has also been supported by encouraging 2025 readouts in GSK’s TIGIT oncology program.
AstraZeneca continues to be anchored by oncology. Tagrisso and Imfinzi remain core growth drivers, while the company’s antibody-drug conjugate strategy, including Enhertu, has expanded its footprint. In 2025, several clinical milestones reinforced confidence, including Phase 3 results from MARIPOSA-2 in EGFR-mutant lung cancer, progress in HER2-positive gastric cancer under the DESTINY-Gastric program, and the closely watched DESTINY-Breast05 readout in early breast cancer.
Eli Lilly, while not the top performer, remains among the strongest in 2025. Demand for incretin therapies continues to drive valuation, alongside growing confidence in Lilly’s next-generation metabolic pipeline. The company has also actively shaped the obesity treatment landscape, including a recent price reduction for Zepbound single-dose vials via LillyDirect to expand access and reduce out-of-pocket burden.
Middle of the Pack: Steady but Less Differentiated
Companies such as Novartis, Amgen, AbbVie, and Roche delivered solid double-digit gains, reflecting stable execution and durable franchises. However, their performance has lagged the top tier, suggesting the market is increasingly differentiating between steady operators and companies with clear near-term growth inflection points or transformative narratives.
Underperformers: LOE Pressure and Strategic Uncertainty
On the opposite end, Bristol Myers Squibb and Novo Nordisk stand out as notable underperformers.
Bristol Myers Squibb is entering a critical phase of its late-decade loss-of-exclusivity cycle, with Eliquis, Opdivo, and Pomalyst facing rising biosimilar and generic pressure. At the same time, investor expectations for the ramp of newer oncology assets have not yet been met.
Novo Nordisk experienced the sharpest decline in 2025. Several factors converged, including the departure of long-time CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, a major internal restructuring eliminating more than 9,000 roles, and the loss of a high-profile bidding process for Metsera to Pfizer. Competitive pressure has intensified due to the expansion of compounded GLP-1 products and increasing competition from Eli Lilly. More recently, disappointing trial results showing that semaglutide did not slow disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease further weighed on sentiment.
Takeaway
The 2025 performance dispersion highlights a market that is rewarding diversification, clinical momentum, and execution clarity while penalizing uncertainty, late-cycle exposure, and strategic disruption. As the year closes, the valuation gap across large pharma reflects not just portfolio strength, but confidence in forward visibility.
