Humira sales drop, but AbbVie has a successor | Wilnesh News

Do you think a friend or colleague should receive this newsletter?share this link Sign up with them.

Good morning! Sales volume AbbVieShares of Humira, once the best-selling drug, have plummeted as it competes with cheaper biosimilars in the United States and abroad.

But AbbVie has two key drugs that treat many of the same conditions as Humira, and they’re proving to be strong successors to the company’s flagship drug.

That was evident after AbbVie on Friday reported first-quarter revenue and adjusted profit that beat Wall Street expectations, in part due to strong performance in the drugmaker’s immunology business. The pharmaceutical giant also raised its annual profit forecast.

Humira’s revenue fell more than 30% in the first quarter to $2.3 billion, according to AbbVie.

AbbVie has built a patent wall around the drug over the years, effectively extending its market exclusivity beyond its main U.S. market Patent expires But Humira lost exclusivity in the U.S. last year after launching nine biosimilars, some of which have been available in Europe since 2019.

However, biosimilars have done little to shake AbbVie’s monopoly. Biosimilars accounted for about 4% of AbbV’s Humira market share as of February, according to a report. quarterly report From Samsung Bioepis.

But then things changed CVSOn April 1, the company’s pharmaceutical benefits manager Caremark removed Humira from some major national health plan formularies, recommending biosimilar versions of the drug instead. A formulary is a preferred list of drugs for reimbursement.

According to statistics, within a week of this change, the market share of Humira biosimilars increased from 5% to 36% data Axios reference. In April, Swiss company Sandoz’s biosimilar Hyrimoz contributed to the majority of new prescriptions for the Humira biosimilar. The product is co-marketed by CVS subsidiary Cordavis.

But AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez said on an earnings call last week that the company was still “successfully navigating” Humira’s patent cliff.

Chief commercial officer Jeffrey Stewart added on the call that data shows “not all Humira prescriptions are switching to biosimilars.” He said 20% of patients are switching to new drugs, including AbbVie’s immunotherapy drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq.

Skyrizi’s revenue in the first quarter was $2 billion, roughly in line with Humira’s revenue during the same period. Meanwhile, Rinvoq’s first-quarter sales hit $1.1 billion.

These new drugs are growing rapidly: Skyrizi’s sales are up 48% from the same period last year, while Rinvoq’s revenue soared 59%.

AbbVie executives said on the conference call that Skyrizi is the “clear market leader” among U.S. psoriasis biologics, with a 35% market share. The company plans to launch the drug in patients with ulcerative colitis, and executives said they expect it to be a “robust” market following potential approval later this year.

AbbVie executives say Skyrizi is taking a “significant” share of sales from Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster Stelara in inflammatory bowel diseases. Stelara is expected to lose U.S. exclusivity in 2025.

Meanwhile, Rinvoq’s use is rising in patients with indications such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

Still, CVS’s decision to remove Humira from some of its formularies raises some questions about the drug’s sales status in the United States, especially if other pharmacy benefit managers eventually follow suit.

Competition for Humira may also intensify in other ways: Health insurer Cigna announced on April 25 that it plans to make certain Humira biosimilars free of charge to eligible U.S. patients using its specialty pharmaceuticals business starting in June.

Alvotech and Teva Pharmaceuticals It also announced a deal with an unspecified company to boost sales of its biosimilar Simlandi, which mimics Humira’s most popular formula and is a direct substitute at pharmacies.

We will continue to pay attention to how Humira’s competitive landscape develops this year.

Please feel free to send Annika any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data: annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

I’m Ashley reporting from Washington, D.C.

I came to the crowd UnitedHealth GroupCEO Andrew Witty testified on Capitol Hill this week about the cyber attack on the company’s subsidiary Change Healthcare.Witty will speak to the public on Wednesday morning senate finance committeeand then he would walk up to a person and speak House of Representatives Energy and Commerce A subcommittee convened in the afternoon.

It’s sure to be an eventful day, and both hearings will be live streamed if you’re interested in tuning in.

This is the situation now.

In late February, UnitedHealth disclosed that part of Change Healthcare’s information technology network had been breached by cyber threat actors. UnitedHealth disconnected the affected systems and has been working in recent weeks to bring them back online.

Change Healthcare provides payment and revenue cycle management tools and other solutions such as e-prescribing software. The company conducts 15 billion billing transactions annually and one-third of patient records pass through its systems, according to the company.

Given the company’s size, the disruption caused by the cyberattack has had widespread repercussions across the healthcare industry. For example, many doctors are temporarily unable to write prescriptions or get paid for their services.

On February 29, UnitedHealth said the ransomware group Blackcat was behind the attack. According to one agency, Blackcat (also known as Noberus and ALPHV) steals sensitive data from organizations and threatens to make it public unless a ransom is paid. Released in December From the U.S. Department of Justice.

UnitedHealth told CNBC on April 22 that it paid the ransom to protect patient data. It also confirmed that documents containing protected health information and personally identifiable information were compromised in the breach. freed.

The company said the investigation into the attack is still ongoing, so it could take several months before affected individuals are notified. UnitedHealth has been working with law enforcement, regulators and cybersecurity experts to assess the breach.

I expect lawmakers attending this week’s hearing will want to know more details about what happened and what this attack means for health care providers and patients.

I’ll bring you all the updates as they unfold! stay tuned.

Please feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.