While it isn’t clear what triggered the $82 million payment, the announcement comes a week after AbbVie said that its Parkinson’s disease candidate tavapadon—which it secured from the $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel—cleared a Phase III study.
AbbVie in an SEC filing on Thursday said it now expects to deliver lower earnings overall in 2024, citing an unexpected milestone payment that it expects to record in the third quarter.
The company must make an “acquired IPR&D [in-process research and development] and milestone” payment of $82 million, before tax, which will deal a $0.04 blow to both its GAAP diluted earnings-per-share (EPS) and adjusted non-GAAP diluted EPS, according to the filing. AbbVie now projects third quarter adjusted EPS of $2.88 to $2.92, andit’s a 2024 adjusted EPS of $10.67 to $10.87.
“While acquired IPR&D and milestones expense may be incurred upon execution of collaborations, licensing agreements, and other asset acquisitions, AbbVie does not forecast acquired IPR&D and milestones expense due to uncertainty of the future occurrence and timing of these transactions,” the pharma wrote in its SEC filing, explaining the unexpected expense to shareholders.
AbbVie has not yet finalized its third-quarter 2024 financials, which are still subject to the company’s closing procedures. “There can be no assurance that our final results will not differ from these preliminary estimates,” according to the filing.
The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results on Oct. 30.
In Q2, the pharma brought in $14.462 billion in net revenues, logging a 4.3% year-over-year increase. AbbVie also beat several analyst forecasts, despite sustaining a nearly 30% drop in the sales of its blockbuster antibody Humira, which brought in $2.8 billion in the quarter. AbbVie’s other immune assets picked up Humira’s slack, including the plaque psoriasis drug Skyrizi, which generated $2.7 billion, and the ulcerative colitis therapy Rinvoq, which earned $1.4 billion.
At the time, AbbVie’s year-end adjusted diluted EPS guidance ranged from $10.81 to $10.91.
It is not clear what milestone triggered the $82 million payment disclosed on Thursday. However, since releasing its most recent financial report, AbbVie has notched several clinical and regulatory victories.
The pharma announced last week that its Parkinson’s disease drug candidate tavapadon aced the Phase III TEMPO-1 study, demonstrating significant improvements in motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with early-stage disease. AbbVie secured access to tavapadon from its $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics in December 2023.
In August 2024, AbbVie and partner Genmab won the European label expansion for their bispecific antibody Tepkinly, allowing its use in adult patients with refractory follicular lymphoma.
