Humira drives AbbVie again
pharmafile | April 28, 2014 | News story | Sales and Marketing | AbbVie, Abbott, Humira, RA
Rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira has once more driven AbbVie, bringing in more than half the company’s sales in the first quarter of 2014.
AbbVie, which split from Abbott at the start of 2013, announced a year-on-year increase in overall sales of 5.4% to $4.56 billion in the three months to the end of March, with net profit rising from $968 million to $980 million.
Humira’s own sales were up 17.5% to $2.6 billion although the company will be conscious of the need to make hay while the sun shines: the US patent on the drug expires in December 2016.
The treatment currently has eight indications in Europe and seven in the US.
“As we look ahead to the remainder of 2014, we continue to expect a significant amount of progress from our pipeline,” says Richard Gonzalez, chief executive of AbbVie. “This includes key data presentations, phase transitions, regulatory submissions, and US approval of our interferon-free HCV combination in 2014.”
In Phase III trials, patients with genotype 1 chronic HCV infection with compensated liver cirrhosis who took AbbVie’s regimen with ribavirin, achieved sustained virologic response rates 12 weeks post-treatment of 91.8% and 95.9% in the 12-week and 24-week treatment arms, respectively.
The company expects to file it in the European Union next month and anticipates European approval in early 2015. Excluding money from this, AbbVie expects its 2014 revenue to be $19 billion.
The company spent 16.9% of its sales in the quarter on R&D as it pursues further uses for Humira and funds the development of its pipeline.
AbbVie also announced in February that it will be expanding its manufacturing operation into Asia for the first time with a $320 million investment in a new Singapore facility.
Set to be fully up and running in 2019, it will create more than 250 new jobs and will focus on small molecule and biologics active drug substances for products in AbbVie’s oncology and immunology pipeline.
Adam Hill
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