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Health & Fitness

International Investing - Big Pharma

The world is a big place – there are over 190 countries and 7 billion people in the world, which really boggles the mind if you sit down and think about it. In addition to being an interesting intellectual exercise, this fact can also have broad implications for your investments and your financial future. It is easy to stay focused on U.S. firms, news, and events during the day-to-day grind, but it is always important to be aware of your surroundings – especially when it comes to your investments. With that in mind, this series of articles will focus on countries and investment opportunities outside the United States that you might not usually hear about.

As always, be sure to consult a financial services professional familiar with both the potential investment and your unique financial situation before embarking on any investment program.

Big Pharma

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This week, instead focusing on a specific country, we will focusing on an industry that touches virtually every aspect of the global economy.

The pharmaceutical industry, known collectively as Big Pharma, is an industry that is, for lack of a better phrase, gigantic. The industry as a whole is very profitable — according to many sources, the 11 largest firms generated $711.1 billion in profits for the 10-year period ending in 2012, with annual profits reaching $83.9 billion in profits in 2012. Such profitability, and the specifics of the business — drugs that people ingest for health benefits — generate sometimes very lively debate around the ethics of the business. With supporters on both sides of the conversation, the fact remains that the pharmaceutical industry is large, dynamic, and growing.

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Every week we discuss the economic reasoning behind investing in various international countries, and a highly trained workforce and favorable tax incentives are two of largest incentives for firms to invest, and for capital to follow. An obvious beneficiary of such an environment are technical industries such as Big Pharma, and with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of largest pharmaceuticals firms in the world.

Eli Lily (LLY)
Abbott (ABT)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
AstraZeneca (AZN)
Roche (ROG:SIX)
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Merck (MRK)
Sanofi-Aventis (SNY)
Novartis (NVS)
Pfizer (PFE)

As always, I have attached some links with more information
Happy Reading!

http://listdose.com/top-10-worlds-largest-pharmaceutical-companies-2013/

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