While Humira sales were impacted by cheaper biosimilars, AbbVie reported in its second-quarter earnings results Thursday that revenues jumped nearly 45% for Skyrizi and almost 56% for Rinvoq year over year, respectively.
AbbVie announced in its second-quarter 2024 earnings on Thursday that sales of its immunology drugs Rinvoq and Skyrizi rose substantially, while sales of the arthritis drug Humira continued its decline but still exceeded analyst estimates.
According to an analyst report from Guggenheim Securities, the company’s total net revenue was $14.46 billion, an increase of 4.3% from Q2 2023. These results beat Guggenheim’s estimate of $14.03 billion and the FactSet Consensus of $14.02 billion. Bolstered by strong performance in the quarter, AbbVie said it is raising its EPS guidance range from $10.61-$10.81 to $10.71-$10.91.
The quarter’s primary earners were part of the pharma’s immunology sector, including the plaque psoriasis and Crohn’s disease drug Skyrizi, which earned $2.7 billion, an increase of 44.8% from Q2 last year. Rinvoq, AbbVie’s rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis drug, earned $1.4 billion in Q2, a 55.8% jump from the same quarter last year.
However, Humira has continued to see revenue declines despite remaining at a blockbuster status. In the quarter, the drug brought in net revenue of $2.8 billion, a 29.8% decrease from Q2 2023. Humira saw its steepest decline in the U.S., where revenues dropped by over 31%.
A report from Samsung Bioepis, which produces a Humira biosimilar, found earlier this month that Humira’s market share has dropped to 82% since May 2024, down around 13% from March. Meanwhile, the overall biosimilar share has grown to around 18%, driven by Sandoz and Cordavis’ Hyrimoz sales and nine other biosimilars. Humira’s market share also declined after the pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark removed the drug from its major national commercial formularies.
Despite Humira’s decline, AbbVie CEO Robert Michael said in a statement that the business is still “performing exceptionally well.”
“Based upon the significant momentum of our ex-Humira growth platform, our continued investments in the business and our pipeline progress, we are very well positioned to deliver our top-tier long-term outlook,” Michael said in a statement.
An analyst report from Bank of Montreal Capital Markets notedf that despite “investor concerns about Humira erosion,” the commercial execution has remained “rock steady.” At the same time, Skyrizi and Rinvoq’s performance likely contributed to beating expectations and a raise in guidance, according to the report .
Global sales of AbbVie’s oncology portfolio came in at $1.6 billion, marking a 10.5% increase from Q2 last year. While cancer drug Imbruvica’s revenue was $833 million, a decrease of 8.2%, it still surpassed the Wall Street estimate.
