AbbVie's first quarter results show arthritis medications drive growth and garner highest expectations

Pharmaceutical company raises full-year profit outlook despite continued decline in Humira sales

AbbVie announced first-quarter results on Friday that exceeded expectations even as sales of the blockbuster autoimmune drug Humira continued to decline due to low price drug competition.

The company reported net profit for the first quarter was 1,369 million dollars (77 cents per share), compared to 239 million dollars (13 cents per share) for the same period last year. The adjusted earnings per share was 2.31 dollars (2.46 dollars in the same period last year), which was higher than the factset consensus of 2.26 dollars. Total sales for the same quarter were 12.31 billion dollars, up 0.7% from the same period last year, and surpassed 11.93 billion dollars, which is the fact set consensus.

AbbVie raised its full-year profit forecast. The company currently anticipates that adjusted earnings per share for 2024 will be in the range of $11.13 to $11.33, up from $11.17 from the previous forecast of $10.97.

Facing competition for new biosimilars, Humira's sales for the same quarter were 2.27 billion dollars, a decrease of nearly 36% compared to the same period last year, but even so, it surpassed 2,221 million dollars, which is the consensus in the factset.

The company announced that total sales of AbbVie's immunology products fell 3.9% from the same period last year to 5.371 billion dollars due to Humira biosimilar competition.

Sales of the arthritis drugs “Skyridge” and “Lynvoke” in the first quarter moderated the decline in Humira. Skyrizi's sales increased 48% year over year, and Rinvoq's sales increased 59%, so sales for both drugs exceeded FactSet's consensus forecast.

Sales of the anticancer drug “Inbulvika” fell 4.5% from the same period last year to 838 million dollars.

Last year, Krypta, which obtained approval from the Food and Drug Administration as a migraine remedy, had sales of 131 million dollars, up 98% from the previous year.

Sales of AbbVie's esthetic business fell 4% from the same period last year to 1,249 million dollars amid a decline in sales of cosmetic Botox and dermal filler Juviderm.

AbbVie shares (ABBV) have risen 8% since the beginning of the year, and the S&P 500 index has risen 5.8%.