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The trillion-dollar medicine cabinet

A hefty dose of biotech has given the Fortune 500 a boost.

Inside of a Gilead Sciences Lab

Talk about a drug industry blockbuster. Over the past decade the market value of Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies has nearly doubled, to $1.5 trillion, thanks largely to the explosive growth of biotechnology firms. In 2004 there was just one true biotech name—Amgen—on the list. Today there are seven, with a combined market cap that is fast approaching that of the old-guard Big Pharma companies.

Data source by FactSet. Chart by Nicolas Rapp and Analee Kasudia.

This story is from the May 1, 2015 issue of Fortune magazine.