Jan 7 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc aims to crack the top-five ranks of drug companies by market capitalization by the end of 2016, Chief Executive Michael Pearson said on Tuesday.

Montreal, Quebec-based Valeant, which has a market cap of about $38.4 billion and sits among the top 15 pharmaceutical companies by that measure, would need to reach about $150 billion in market cap to crack the top five, Pearson said on a call with analysts and investors.