(Reuters) – AbbVie raised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday after strong sales of its newer immunology drugs and key cancer treatment helped the company beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter earnings.
The company now expects its full-year adjusted profit to be between $10.90 and $10.94 per share, compared with its prior forecast range of $10.67 to $10.87 per share.
AbbVie is pushing its newer immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq to counter a drop in sales of Humira, once the world’s top-selling medicine, after multiple less expensive biosimilars of the arthritis drug hit the U.S. market last year.
Skyrizi recorded third-quarter sales of $3.21 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of $2.93 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Rinvoq reported sales of $1.61 billion, compared with expectations of $1.54 billion.
On the other hand, Humira’s global sales of $2.23 billion missed estimates of $2.39 billion.
Humira’s sales miss comes at a time when pharmacy benefit managers, who act as middlemen with insurers, are removing it from their lists of preferred drugs for reimbursement. Instead, they recommend biosimilars.
AbbVie is also expected to face pressure from lower prices of its key cancer drug Imbruvica under Medicare, with the price change expected to come into effect in 2026. The company last year took a $2.1 billion charge related to a likely drop in revenue.
Imbruvica generated $828 million in sales during the third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $765.1 million.
On an adjusted basis, AbbVie earned $3 per share in the third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates by 9 cents.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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