Sanofi
Sanofi-Aventis wasn’t built to invent new medicines — it was built to own the ones that already paid.
Vaccines
The intervention that saved the most lives and gets the least credit.
- 6
- in business
- 11:09
- average
- 67 min
- in total
- 10
- across the network
All briefs
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly · 1875
Eli Lilly and Company is a foundational case in how business infrastructure — not just discovery — creates pharmaceutical power. Its early bets on quality control, prescription gatekeeping, and regulation were deliberate, profitable, and durable. The sources confirm no modern financials or valuations, so analysis must stay anchored in its documented methods and milestones.
GSK plc
Henry Wellcome · 2000
GSK plc is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company formed in 2000 by the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. It traces its origins to Henry Wellcome’s 1880 co-founding of Burroughs Wellcome & Company. GSK developed the first malaria vaccine (RTS,S), markets WHO-listed essential medicines, and reported $42.4 billion in revenue and $9.32 billion in earnings in 2025. In 2012, it pleaded guilty in the US to unlawful drug promotion, failure to report safety data, and physician kickbacks — agreeing to a $3 billion settlement, the largest healthcare fraud case in US history and the largest in the pharmaceutical industry. The Wellcome Foundation Ltd., established by Henry Wellcome in 1924, was later sold to GSK following changes in UK charity law.
Moderna
Moderna isn’t an RNA platform company—it’s a pandemic procurement vehicle that hasn’t yet proven its tech works beyond emergency use.
Serum Institute of India
The world’s largest vaccine maker by volume is not a tech disruptor — it’s a high-volume, low-margin public health utility run as a private company.
Sinopharm (company)
A state-owned vaccine developer that delivered peer-reviewed efficacy — and sold 400,520 faulty doses.