Pharmaceuticals valuation multiples
Worldwide, the median listed pharmaceutical company was valued at 19.3x normalised earnings and 12.9x EBITDA at 30 September 2026. By region, the median was 17.1x in the United States, 17.2x in Europe, 13.3x in Japan and 22.0x in Emerging Asia.
Global 411 listed pharmaceutical companies at 30 September 2026
median
median
median
median
*Excludes companies with negative normalised earnings. **Excludes companies with negative EBITDA. ***Excludes companies with negative free cash flow. How the figures are built
| P/E | EV/EBITDA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Companies | Median | Aggregate | Median | Aggregate |
| Global | 275 | 19.3x | 21.3x | 12.9x | 13.9x |
| United States | 30 | 17.1x | 24.6x | 10.1x | 16.2x |
| Europe | 34 | 17.2x | 15.5x | 11.5x | 10.7x |
| Japan | 22 | 13.3x | 20.8x | 7.9x | 10.9x |
| Emerging Asia | 180 | 22.0x | 31.7x | 13.7x | 16.5x |
Companies: those in the P/E median. Median: the typical pharmaceutical company. Aggregate: the industry as a whole, total value over total revenue, earnings or book value, with larger companies weighing more and loss-makers included. In the United States, Japan and Emerging Asia the larger companies trade on higher multiples than the typical one, so the aggregate sits above the median. n/m: not meaningful, or too few companies. How both are calculated
Valuation multiples by sector and region
What listed companies trade on worldwide, by region and sector, in ten pages. It may be shared and quoted with attribution to Siblis Research.
- Market multiples for eight regions: EV/EBITDA, P/E, EV/Sales, P/B
- 13 sectors by region: EV/EBITDA and P/E
- The most and least expensive industries
- Twelve quarters of history
| Multiple | Global | United States | Europe | Japan | Emerging Asia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/ENormalised earnings: one-off items removed. The key multiple for pharmaceutical companies. | 19.3x | 17.1x | 17.2x | 13.3x | 22.0x |
| EV/EBITDAEnterprise value to EBITDA; share-based pay counted as an expense. | 12.9x | 10.1x | 11.5x | 7.9x | 13.7x |
| P/FCFMarket value to free cash flow. | 19.6x | 11.8x | 20.5x | 11.6x | 21.1x |
| EV/SalesEnterprise value to revenue. | 2.8x | 3.3x | 3.0x | 1.7x | 2.9x |
| Ratio | Global | United States | Europe | Japan | Emerging Asia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 48.8% | 67.0% | 61.5% | 61.4% | 45.4% |
| EBITDA margin | 18.8% | 22.5% | 23.8% | 23.1% | 17.3% |
| Revenue growth | 4.1% | 11.5% | 8.9% | 6.4% | 1.9% |
| Free cash flow margin | 7.8% | 17.2% | 11.6% | 10.9% | 6.5% |
Each ratio is the median of the companies that report the figure. Revenue growth compares the last twelve months with the twelve months before.
Global
- Eli Lilly and CoUS
- Johnson & JohnsonUS
- AbbVie IncUS
- Merck & Co IncUS
- Roche Holding AGSwitzerland
of 411 companies
United States
- Eli Lilly and CoUS
- Johnson & JohnsonUS
- AbbVie IncUS
- Merck & Co IncUS
- Amgen IncUS
of 52 companies
Europe
- Roche Holding AGSwitzerland
- Novartis AGSwitzerland
- AstraZeneca plcUK
- Novo Nordisk A/SDenmark
- GSK plcUK
of 41 companies
Japan
- Chugai Pharmaceutical Co LtdJapan
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJapan
- Otsuka Holdings Co LtdJapan
- Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdJapan
- Astellas Pharma IncJapan
of 26 companies
Emerging Asia
- Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co LtdChina
- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries LtdIndia
- PharmaEssentia CorpTaiwan
- Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceutical Co LtdChina
- CSPC Pharmaceutical Group LtdChina
of 270 companies
Subscribers get the figures of all 411 companies at 30 Sep 2026, and of every company in earlier quarters, delisted ones included, with their key multiples, size band, last reporting date and data flags. Every median and aggregate can be checked company by company, and every company figure traced back to that company's own filings.
| Sub-industry | Covers | P/E | EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large-Cap Pharmaceuticals | Diversified global pharmaceutical companies (major pharma), with the largest biopharma (Amgen, Gilead) | See plans | See plans |
| Specialty & Generic Pharmaceuticals | Specialty, generic, OTC and animal-health pharmaceuticals, cannabis; LTM revenue above $50m | See plans | See plans |
Global medians, 30 Sep 2026
Global median P/E, 12 quarters
Pharmaceuticals in the full data
Two industries under one name
Of the 400 pharmaceutical companies in the statistics, 264 are in Emerging Asia, 186 of them in China. They are a different business from their Western peers. The median US company spends 12.8% of its revenue on research and the median European company 11.6%; the median Emerging Asian company spends 5.1%, with a gross margin of 45.4% against 67.0% in the United States. Yet Emerging Asia has the highest median P/E of the four regions, 22.0x.
Lower multiples in the United States and Japan
The US median P/E has fallen from 22.2x in Q4 2023 to 17.1x, with a low of 13.0x in Q2 2026; Japan's from 18.6x to 13.3x, now the lowest of the four regions. The US aggregate has moved much less, from 25.7x to 24.6x, and stands at 24.6x: the largest US drug makers kept their multiples while the typical company's fell.
Size
In Emerging Asia the large caps trade at a median 34.8x normalised earnings, against 24.3x for small caps; in the United States the two are 22.3x and 14.0x. For a valuation, a peer group should match the target's business model (research-led, generic or contract manufacturing) before its region.
What P/E multiple do pharmaceutical companies trade at?
The median listed pharmaceutical company traded at 19.3x normalised earnings (P/E) at 30 September 2026, across 275 companies above USD 100m; the aggregate was 21.3x. United States 17.1x, Europe 17.2x, Japan 13.3x, Emerging Asia 22.0x.
What is the median EV/EBITDA of pharmaceutical companies?
12.9x at 30 September 2026, across 335 companies; the aggregate was 13.9x.
Should a valuation use the median or the aggregate?
The median, with the 25th and 75th percentiles of a peer group close to the target in sub-industry and size. The aggregate describes the industry as an investor holding all of it would see it, and it is pulled towards the largest companies.
Do these figures include private pharmaceutical companies?
No. They cover listed companies with a market value above USD 100m. Data for US companies of USD 25–100m is available to subscribers as a separate universe.
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Companies with a market value above USD 100m whose main business is developing and making medicines, branded and generic, listed on the largest stock markets in every region. Delisted companies are included for the dates they were listed, so past figures carry no survivorship bias.
Financial statements come from official filing databases where they exist, such as SEC EDGAR in the United States and EDINET in Japan, and otherwise from the companies' own published reports.
411 pharmaceutical companies at 30 September 2026. The number changes every quarter as companies list, delist or change industry. Companies with accounts more than about nine months old, and holding companies whose results are mainly revaluations of their investments, are left out.
The typical company: each counts once, from at least five values. A company with negative EBITDA, operating profit or normalised earnings is left out of the median of that multiple, as are multiples above 50x for EV/Sales or 100x for earnings multiples. So each median has its own number of companies.
The industry as a whole: total value over total revenue or earnings in US dollars, each company weighted by its free float, loss-makers included. Where one company is more than half the industry's value, the aggregate mostly describes that company; use the median.
Each figure uses only the financial statements public on the valuation date, over the last twelve months. Later restatements never change it.
Market value plus debt, preferred equity and minority interests, less cash. Lease liabilities are included on the IFRS 16 basis.
Restructuring, deal and litigation costs are added back; share-based pay stays an expense. Adjusted EBITDA adds share-based pay back as well.
Net earnings with one-off items removed, such as impairments, restructuring costs and disposal gains. The P/E uses these, never reported earnings.
Cite this page
Siblis Research (2026). Pharmaceuticals Valuation Multiples [Data set]. Valuation date 30 September 2026. siblisresearch.com/valuation-multiples-by-industry/pharmaceuticals/
Charts on this page may be reproduced with attribution to Siblis Research and a link to this page.
@misc{siblis_pharmaceuticals_multiples,
title = {Pharmaceuticals Valuation Multiples},
author = {{Siblis Research}},
year = {2026},
note = {Valuation date 30 September 2026},
url = {https://siblisresearch.com/valuation-multiples-by-industry/pharmaceuticals/}
}