By Leroy Leo and Christy Santhosh
(Reuters) – AbbVie raised its annual profit forecast on Friday after strong sales of its immunology drug Skyrizi and cancer drug Imbruvica helped the company beat Wall Street estimates for the first quarter.
The company now expects adjusted earnings of between $11.13 and $11.33 per share for this year, compared to the $10.97 to $11.17 previously estimated.
Analysts on average expect annual earnings of $11.10 per share, according to LSEG data.
AbbVie and its investors focused on sales of new immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq to offset eroding sales of Humira – the world’s best-selling drug until it lost exclusivity and saw entry close copies last year.
Skyrizi’s sales of $2.01 billion beat estimates of $1.94 billion, while Rinvoq’s $1.09 billion was slightly above expectations of $1.06 billion. Humira sales fell nearly 36% to $2.27 billion for the quarter, roughly in line with estimates of $2.28 billion.
Despite launching nine biosimilars in the United States last year, AbbVie retained more than 98% of Humira’s market share.
Earlier this month, German pharmaceutical manufacturer Boehringer Ingelheim announced it would lay off part of its U.S. sales force due to poor sales of its Humira biosimilar in the region.
Investors are also concerned about a potential drop in the price of AbbVie’s Imbruvica starting in 2026, after it was selected as one of 10 drugs subject to negotiations with US Medicare insurance plans .
The company took a $2.1 billion charge in October related to an expected decline in Imbruvica sales. A final price is expected to be announced on August 1.
Imbruvica generated $838 million in the quarter, beating estimates of $744 million.
AbbVie reported adjusted earnings of $2.31 per share, beating estimates of $2.23 per share, while its total revenue of $12.31 billion beat expectations of $11.92 billion. dollars.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
