Oct 30 (Reuters) – AbbVie raised its annual profit forecast after topping Wall Street expectations for the third quarter on Friday, as booming sales of newer immunology drugs made up for the decline in former top-selling treatment Humira.
AbbVie’s immunology franchise, led by Skyrizi and Rinvoq, is doing the heavy lifting for the drugmaker to fill the void left by its former marquee drug Humira, after the arthritis treatment lost US patent exclusivity in 2023.
Skyrizi, indicated for skin and gastrointestinal conditions, recorded sales of $5.78 billion for the quarter, growing 22.7% from a year earlier and beating Wall Street estimates of $5.75 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Rinvoq, which is used to treat a range of inflammatory joint, skin and gastrointestinal conditions, generated $2.71 billion in revenue, up nearly 24% year over year.
AbbVie is leaning on acquisitions to extend its growth runway beyond Humira and help offset future patent expirations.
Its $10.9 billion acquisition of Apogee Therapeutics in June adds experimental eczema and asthma treatments to AbbVie’s long-term pipeline, though the deal is expected to dent profit through 2027 before contributing to earnings in 2032.
AbbVie’s neuroscience portfolio also helped with the earnings beat, with revenue climbing 19% to $3.39 billion, helped by Botox Therapeutic and antipsychotic drug Vraylar.
The drugmaker now expects annual adjusted profit of $13.95 to $13.99 per share, compared with its prior view of $13.76 to $13.96. The forecast includes a 69 cents hit from acquired in-process R&D and milestone expenses booked year to date through the third quarter.
Quarterly revenue came in at $17.40 billion, compared with analysts’ estimate of $17.31 billion.
The company earned an adjusted profit of $3.82 per share in the quarter, above analysts’ expectations of $3.75.
AbbVie shares have risen about 27% so far this year and closed at a record high of $290.79 on Thursday.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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