AbbVie’s immunology heirs Skyrizi and Rinvoq are proving booming growth to make up for once-king Humira’s continuous sales slide. With an upcoming FDA decision for Skyrizi and a new edge over a major competitor for Rinvoq, the two drugs are set to reach even higher heights.
Humira continued its sales free-fall as biosimilars erode the former world’s top-selling drug. Its sales dipped nearly 40% year-over-year to $2.3 billion.
Yet, AbbVie is “successfully navigating” the loss-of-exclusivity impacts, the company’s CEO Rick Gonazalez said on the first-quarter earnings call.
AbbVie’s plan to lean on its newer immunology drugs Rinvoq and Skyrizi to pick up the slack resulted in 59% growth for Rinvoq and 48% for Skyrizi, bringing the total immunology profile to a 3.9% sales decline to $12.3 billion.
Skyrizi in particular is closely chasing Humira, nearly matching its quarterly sales with a $2 billion haul.
The med is the “clear market leader” in the U.S. biologics psoriasis market, the company noted. Next up is an anticipated launch in ulcerative colitis, which the company expects to be “strong” after an expected approval this year.
The med is currently approved in Crohn’s disease, the other form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In that market, Skyrizi is proving a formidable rival to Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster Stelara and is taking “significant share” of the J&J drug’s sales, the company said.
Meanwhile, Rinvoq is going up against an outside competitor of its own in Regeneron and Sanofi’s Dupixent. The AbbVie med just yesterday came out on top in a head-to-head study in atopic dermatitis, with 20% of patients simultaneously achieving nearly complete skin clearance and no to little itch after taking Rinvoq, compared with 9% of those on Dupixent.
Outside of immunology, AbbVie’s leading aesthetics portfolio took a surprising 4% downturn, with Botox cosmetic revenues falling 3.9% and Juvederm fillers dipping 16.4%.
The facial injectables’ sales drop was attributed to customers holding “lower than normal” inventory levels due to a first-quarter move to shift the timing of “certain promotional activities” to the second quarter, AbbVie’s Allergan aesthetics head Carrie Storm said on the call.
The company is entering the second quarter with antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist ImmunoGen officially under its belt after the $10.1 billion buyout was completed ahead of schedule in February. With that, AbbVie gained ovarian cancer ADC Elahere and a pipeline of additional ADC candidates.
The quarter was the penultimate for longtime CEO Richard Gonzalez, who has led the company since its inception in 2013. Come July 1, current chief operating officer Robert Michael will take the reigns while Gonzalez will become executive chairman of the board of directors.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the organization we have built over the past 11 years,” the outgoing CEO said in a company release. “Our company has never been stronger, and our future has never been brighter,” he added on the call.
All in all, AbbVie pulled quarterly revenues of $12.3 billion in a slight increase of 0.7%.