Skyrizi poised to overtake Humira as AbbVie's top earner
25 Jul 2024
Phase 2Phase 3Executive ChangeFinancial StatementClinical Result
AbbVie's second quarter was marked by contrasts, with newer immunology treatments doing much of the heavy lifting as it navigates the decline of long-standing blockbuster Humira, which now faces competition from lower-cost biosimilars. Still, the company posted better-than-expected results during the three-month period, driven by the performance of Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
Total revenue reached $14.46 billion in the second quarter, up 4.3% year-over-year and surpassing analyst expectations of $14.02 billion. Net earnings fell to $1.4 billion, down from $2 billion the same time last year.
The star performers of the quarter were Skyrizi and Rinvoq — the former soaring by nearly 45% to $2.7 billion, while the latter surged almost 56% to $1.4 billion. Their combined sales of $4.2 billion outpaced Wall Street estimates by about $200 million.
Humira's gradual decline
Despite facing biosimilar competition, Humira remains AbbVie's top-selling drug, although Skyrizi is catching up. Humira sales tumbled almost 30% to $2.8 billion in the second quarter, but the performance nonetheless edged past analyst projections. While the drug has been able to fend off competition up to now, uptake of SandozSandoz's Hyrimoz biosimilar has been picking up steam.
"Our ex-Humira growth platform, which covers more than 80% of AbbVie's total sales, will outperform our initial full year sales guidance by more than $1 billion," said newly minted CEO Robert Michael, who took over from chief Richard Gonzalez on July 1.
Meanwhile, Skyrizi continues to show momentum in psoriasis and Crohn's disease, where Michael said AbbVie has "substantial headroom" for more share gains, while a recent US approval in ulcerative colitis should "add another source of long-term growth."
As for Rinvoq, the CEO said "we are making excellent progress with late-stage development in five additional indications that we anticipate will launch in the second half of this decade."
Hits and misses
Meanwhile, AbbVie's aesthetics portfolio, which includes Botox, showed signs of weakness. Cosmetic BotoxBotox sales grew 6.4% to $729 million, falling short of the $735.4 million forecast.
Neuroscience also underperformed slightly, generating $2.16 billion against projections of $2.18 billion. The portfolio nonetheless saw sales climb almost 15% higher than the year-ago period, boosted by therapeutic Botox (+8.7%, $810 million), Vraylar (+17.6%, $774 million), Ubrelvy (+17.5%, $231 million) and Qulipta (+56.3%, $150 million).
Alzheimer's setback
AbbVie also disclosed in its earnings call that it is discontinuing further development for ABBV-916 as a standalone treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Roopal Thakkar, who was recently promoted to chief scientific officer, said the company completed a Phase II interim analysis of the anti-AβpE3 monoclonal antibody.
"The emerging efficacy and safety profile in this study is similar to what has been demonstrated by approved agents," he said. "However, given the evolving landscape, we do not believe [ABBV-916] as a monotherapy treatment will be sufficiently differentiated from other emerging therapies."
At the moment, the company is keen to wrap up the pending $8.7-billion takeout of Cerevel Therapeutics, which will add schizophrenia drug hopeful emraclidine to its neuroscience pipeline. "We have certified substantial compliance to the [US Federal Trade Commission] second request and anticipate the Cerevel transaction will close soon," Thakkar said.
Pivotal studies of emraclidine begin reading out near the end of this year, he added. "We'll also see data from two additional Phase III studies for davapidon in Parkinson's disease later this year."
Earnings revision
AbbVie also revised its full-year 2024 earnings guidance, and now expects adjusted earnings between $10.71 and $10.91 per share. The company said its new guidance includes a 60-cent hit related to tax charges.
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