07.20.18
Headquarters: North Chicago, IL
twitter.com/abbvie
www.abbvie.com
Headcount: 29,000
Year Established: 2013
Revenues: $28,216 (+10%)
Net Income: $5,309 (-11%)
R&D: $4,982 (+14%)
TOP SELLING DRUGS
Last year marked Abbvie’s fifth in operation and proved to be its most successful since it launched in 2013. Revenues grew by 10 percent to $28.2 billion, marking the third consecutive year of double-digit growth driven by blockbuster Humira.
With 15% growth year-over-year and $18.4 billion in 2017 sales, Humira is the world’s best-selling drug and accounted for approximately 65% of AbbVie’s total 2017 revenue. As the most widely prescribed autoimmune biologic therapy, Humira will continue to be an important growth driver for several years. EvaluatePharma says the rheumatoid arthritis drug will continue to top the revenue charts through 2022.
AbbVie’s positive growth can also be attributed to cancer drug Imbruveca’s 40% jump in sales to $2.5 billion. Other key products include Creon and Duodopa and the launch of HCV product Mavyret. These increases were partially offset by a decline in net revenues of HCV product Viekira due to heavy competition.
Pipeline approvals
With regards to its pipeline, AbbVie has more than 60 programs exploring new technologies and approaches to treatment in active clinical development across key therapeutic areas and remains on track to launch more than 20 new products or indications by 2020.
In January 2017, the FDA approved Imbruveca for patients with relapsed/refractory marginal zone lymphoma who require systemic therapy and have received at least one prior anti-CD20-based therapy. This indication was approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate (ORR) and continued approval may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial. MZL is a slow-growing form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In August 2017, the FDA also approved Imbruveca for the treatment of adult patients with chronic graft- versus-host-disease (cGVHD) after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy. Imbruveca is the first therapy specifically approved for adults with cGVHD, a severe and potentially life-threatening consequence of stem cell or bone marrow transplant. This marked the sixth U.S. disease indication for Imbruveca since the medication’s initial approval in 2013 and the first approved indication outside of cancer.
In the same month, the FDA approved Mavyret for the treatment of patients with chronic HCV genotype 1-6 infection without cirrhosis and with compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A). Mavyret is also indicated for the treatment of adult patients with HCV genotype 1 infection.
Advancing early stage research
After acquiring Stemcentrx and its lead late-stage asset Rova-T for $5.8 billion in 2016, AbbVie was not active in M&A in 2017. The company instead focused on developing new collaborations to advance early-stage research in key therapeutic areas such as oncology and immunology.
With WuXi NextCODE, a global contract genomics organization, AbbVie entered a 15-year strategic alliance to conduct population genomics research in Ireland aimed at advancing the discovery and development of new therapeutic approaches for serious diseases within oncology, neuroscience and immunology. The alliance will result in the sequencing of 45,000 genomes from volunteers across Ireland to seek novel insights into the biological processes that underlie complex disease. AbbVie will use the research database developed by GMI to identify new molecular approaches for drug discovery and development as well as companion diagnostics.
AbbVie and Pure MHC entered a research and license agreement to discover and validate peptide targets for use with T-cell receptor therapeutics in several types of cancers.Pure MHC has developed technology to identify novel, tumor-associated peptides based on innovation licensed from the University of Oklahoma. The collaboration aims to identify a library of peptide targets for further research across multiple tumor types and advance AbbVie’s next-gen immuno-oncology therapies.
AbbVie also entered into an exclusive license with Dong-A-ST, a specialty healthcare company in South Korea, for MerTK inhibitors in preclinical development for use in conjunction with immuno-oncology therapies. MerTK is a protein that is believed to contribute to the promotion of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The collaboration will explore the combination of MerTK inhibitors in conjunction with AbbVie’s portfolio of anti-cancer agents across multiple types of solid tumors.
In addition, a partnership with Zebra Biologics aims to discover agonist antibody therapeutics for inflammatory diseases. Zebra will use its function-based antibody discovery platform to generate antibodies that activate biological pathways associated with AbbVie targets. The companies will collaborate on the identification and preclinical validation of emerging, undisclosed candidates. Zebra will lead the discovery of candidate agonist antibodies and will collaborate with AbbVie in preclinical validation of select clinical candidates. AbbVie would be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory approval and commercialization.
Lastly, AbbVie and Turnstone Biologics entered a research, option and license agreement under which AbbVie obtained an exclusive option to license as many as three of Turnstone’s next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapies. Oncolytic viruses take advantage of defective pathways in tumors to selectively replicate in and destroy cancer cells, while cancer vaccines create killer (CD8+) T cell immune responses against tumor antigens.
AbbVie has an option to obtain all global development and commercialization rights to Turnstone’s Ad-MG1-MAGEA3 therapy, in two Phase 1/2 trials for multiple solid tumor indications. Each of the three therapies leverages Turnstone’s platform based on an engineered Maraba virus. In the event AbbVie exercises one or more of its options, AbbVie expects to pursue this immunotherapeutic technology across several types of solid tumors.
twitter.com/abbvie
www.abbvie.com
Headcount: 29,000
Year Established: 2013
Revenues: $28,216 (+10%)
Net Income: $5,309 (-11%)
R&D: $4,982 (+14%)
TOP SELLING DRUGS
| Drug | Indication | 2017 Sales | (+/-%) |
| Humira | rheumatoid arthritis | $18,427 | 15% |
| Imbruvica | chronic lymphocytic leukemia | $2,573 | 40% |
| Viekira | hepatitis C | $1,274 | -16% |
| Creon | digestion | $831 | 12% |
| Lupron | hormone treatment | $829 | 1% |
| Synthroid | hyperthyroidism | $781 | 2% |
| Synagis | RSV | $738 | 1% |
| AndroGel | testosterone | $577 | -15% |
| Kaletra | HIV/AIDS | $423 | 23% |
| Sevoflurane | anesthesia | $410 | -4% |
Last year marked Abbvie’s fifth in operation and proved to be its most successful since it launched in 2013. Revenues grew by 10 percent to $28.2 billion, marking the third consecutive year of double-digit growth driven by blockbuster Humira.
With 15% growth year-over-year and $18.4 billion in 2017 sales, Humira is the world’s best-selling drug and accounted for approximately 65% of AbbVie’s total 2017 revenue. As the most widely prescribed autoimmune biologic therapy, Humira will continue to be an important growth driver for several years. EvaluatePharma says the rheumatoid arthritis drug will continue to top the revenue charts through 2022.
AbbVie’s positive growth can also be attributed to cancer drug Imbruveca’s 40% jump in sales to $2.5 billion. Other key products include Creon and Duodopa and the launch of HCV product Mavyret. These increases were partially offset by a decline in net revenues of HCV product Viekira due to heavy competition.
Pipeline approvals
With regards to its pipeline, AbbVie has more than 60 programs exploring new technologies and approaches to treatment in active clinical development across key therapeutic areas and remains on track to launch more than 20 new products or indications by 2020.
In January 2017, the FDA approved Imbruveca for patients with relapsed/refractory marginal zone lymphoma who require systemic therapy and have received at least one prior anti-CD20-based therapy. This indication was approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate (ORR) and continued approval may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial. MZL is a slow-growing form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
In August 2017, the FDA also approved Imbruveca for the treatment of adult patients with chronic graft- versus-host-disease (cGVHD) after failure of one or more lines of systemic therapy. Imbruveca is the first therapy specifically approved for adults with cGVHD, a severe and potentially life-threatening consequence of stem cell or bone marrow transplant. This marked the sixth U.S. disease indication for Imbruveca since the medication’s initial approval in 2013 and the first approved indication outside of cancer.
In the same month, the FDA approved Mavyret for the treatment of patients with chronic HCV genotype 1-6 infection without cirrhosis and with compensated cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A). Mavyret is also indicated for the treatment of adult patients with HCV genotype 1 infection.
Advancing early stage research
After acquiring Stemcentrx and its lead late-stage asset Rova-T for $5.8 billion in 2016, AbbVie was not active in M&A in 2017. The company instead focused on developing new collaborations to advance early-stage research in key therapeutic areas such as oncology and immunology.
With WuXi NextCODE, a global contract genomics organization, AbbVie entered a 15-year strategic alliance to conduct population genomics research in Ireland aimed at advancing the discovery and development of new therapeutic approaches for serious diseases within oncology, neuroscience and immunology. The alliance will result in the sequencing of 45,000 genomes from volunteers across Ireland to seek novel insights into the biological processes that underlie complex disease. AbbVie will use the research database developed by GMI to identify new molecular approaches for drug discovery and development as well as companion diagnostics.
AbbVie and Pure MHC entered a research and license agreement to discover and validate peptide targets for use with T-cell receptor therapeutics in several types of cancers.Pure MHC has developed technology to identify novel, tumor-associated peptides based on innovation licensed from the University of Oklahoma. The collaboration aims to identify a library of peptide targets for further research across multiple tumor types and advance AbbVie’s next-gen immuno-oncology therapies.
AbbVie also entered into an exclusive license with Dong-A-ST, a specialty healthcare company in South Korea, for MerTK inhibitors in preclinical development for use in conjunction with immuno-oncology therapies. MerTK is a protein that is believed to contribute to the promotion of immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The collaboration will explore the combination of MerTK inhibitors in conjunction with AbbVie’s portfolio of anti-cancer agents across multiple types of solid tumors.
In addition, a partnership with Zebra Biologics aims to discover agonist antibody therapeutics for inflammatory diseases. Zebra will use its function-based antibody discovery platform to generate antibodies that activate biological pathways associated with AbbVie targets. The companies will collaborate on the identification and preclinical validation of emerging, undisclosed candidates. Zebra will lead the discovery of candidate agonist antibodies and will collaborate with AbbVie in preclinical validation of select clinical candidates. AbbVie would be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory approval and commercialization.
Lastly, AbbVie and Turnstone Biologics entered a research, option and license agreement under which AbbVie obtained an exclusive option to license as many as three of Turnstone’s next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapies. Oncolytic viruses take advantage of defective pathways in tumors to selectively replicate in and destroy cancer cells, while cancer vaccines create killer (CD8+) T cell immune responses against tumor antigens.
AbbVie has an option to obtain all global development and commercialization rights to Turnstone’s Ad-MG1-MAGEA3 therapy, in two Phase 1/2 trials for multiple solid tumor indications. Each of the three therapies leverages Turnstone’s platform based on an engineered Maraba virus. In the event AbbVie exercises one or more of its options, AbbVie expects to pursue this immunotherapeutic technology across several types of solid tumors.
