Humira continues to drive Abbott
pharmafile | October 22, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AbVie, Abbott, Humira, RA
Abbott Laboratories’ rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira has once again shown its value to the company with a strong performance in the third quarter of 2012.
Sales of the brand rose 10% year on year to $2.3 billion, a significant chunk of Abbott’s overall sales of $9.8 billion – which were down 0.4%.
Net profit was $1.9 billion, up from $303 million in Q3 2011 – although this huge disparity is largely because of charges last year relating to the company’s imminent restructure, in which the pharma division is to be spun off as a separate entity.
While Humira’s importance is clear – it also received approval for its eighth indication in Europe and seventh in the US – its US patent expires in December 2016, which makes finding replacement revenue streams a matter of some urgency.
Abbott’s second-biggest drug, the anti-cholesterol treatment Trilipix/TriCor went off patent earlier this year, meaning that sales fell 2.8% year on year to $404m and will drop further in future.
Sales of anti-HIV treatment Kaletra and prostate cancer drug Lupron dipped 9.9% and 11% respectively, again under generic pressure.
Big changes are afoot for Abbott: from the beginning of 2013 the company will be split into two, with its pharma division renamed AbbVie.
The remainder of the business retains the Abbott name and includes the branded generic pharmaceuticals division, devices, diagnostics and nutritionals businesses.
Abbott chief executive Miles White said it was “another quarter of strong results with ongoing earnings per share up more than 10% percent, despite a challenging global economy”.
One of the most promising late-stage drugs the firm has in its pipeline is bardoxolone, a treatment for chronic kidney disease which is currently in Phase III trials.
Abbott is also moving its interferon-free hepatitis C programme in genotype 1 patients into Phase III, following positive results from the Phase 2b Aviator study.
And the company announced a Phase III trial with Astellas Pharma Global Development for ASP0113, an investigational vaccine to prevent cytomegalovirus in transplant patients.
Adam Hill
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