AbbVie's quarterly results top estimates as newer drugs cushion Humira's slide

MW AbbVie's quarterly results top estimates as newer drugs cushion Humira's slide

By Eleanor Laise

Drugmaker raises full-year profit outlook

AbbVie Inc. on Thursday reported second-quarter sales and profit that beat expectations as newer immunology drugs delivered the rapid growth needed to offset plunging sales of blockbuster Humira.

The drugmaker reported second-quarter net income of $1.37 billion, or 77 cents per share, down from $2.024 billion, or $1.14 per share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.65, down from $2.91 a year earlier, beat the FactSet consensus of $2.57. Revenues totaled $14.462 billion in the quarter, up 4.3% from a year earlier and topping the FactSet consensus of $14.022 billion.

AbbVie boosted its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share guidance to a range of $10.71 to $10.91, up from $10.61 to $10.81.

The quarterly results are AbbVie's first under new Chief Executive Robert Michael, who took the helm at the start of this month from the company's founding CEO Richard Gonzalez, and they come as the drugmaker is digesting its acquisition of ImmunoGen, which closed early this year. The company is also working to close its proposed acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. $(CERE)$, announced late last year.

Global sales of Humira, AbbVie's top-selling autoimmune drug, totaled $2.814 billion in the quarter, down nearly 30% from a year earlier but beating the FactSet consensus estimate.

Humira faced its first lower-cost biosimilar competition last year, and adoption of those cheaper alternatives has been closely watched in recent months as regulators and lawmakers scrutinize the business practices of the prescription-drug intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers. CVS Health Corp.'s $(CVS)$ CVS Caremark, one of the country's largest PBMs, in April dropped Humira from its major formularies, or lists of covered drugs, instead covering biosimilars.

As doctors and patients reassess Humira and its competitors, however, some are simply switching over to newer drugs - including AbbVie's Skyrizi and Rinvoq, J.P. Morgan analysts said in a recent research note. For AbbVie investors, the focus on dwindling Humira sales' impact in 2025 and beyond is "overdone," the analysts wrote.

Skyrizi sales jumped 45% from a year earlier, to $2.7 billion, while Rinvoq sales climbed 56%, to $1.4 billion. Sales of both drugs topped FactSet consensus estimates in the quarter, as did total sales in AbbVie's immunology portfolio, which came to $6.971 billion.

Total oncology sales grew 10.5% from a year earlier, to $1.634 billion, although sales of blood-cancer drug Imbruvica fell 8.2%, to $833 million. Sales of Elahere, the antibody-drug conjugate that AbbVie picked up with its ImmunoGen deal, came to $128 million, beating the FactSet consensus estimate.

Key products in AbbVie's aesthetics business fell short of analysts' sales expectations in the quarter. Botox cosmetic sales came to $729 million, up 6% from a year earlier, but sales of dermal filler Juvederm fell nearly 7%, to $343 million.

AbbVie's stock $(ABBV)$ has climbed 13.7% in the year to date, roughly in line with the S&P 500's SPX gain.

-Eleanor Laise

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July 25, 2024 07:38 ET (11:38 GMT)

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