Hooked on Humira

Rarely has one medicine meant as much as Humira does to drugmaker AbbVie.

The world’s top-selling drug by revenue brought in $18.4 billion last year, 65 percent of AbbVie’s sales. Humira provides even more of the company’s profit, says Credit Suisse analyst Dr. Vamil Divan.

Injected just under the skin, the biologic drug treats rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and seven other immune disorders. That breadth makes it the category’s favorite among insurers and doctors, Divan says.

Launched in 2002, Humira’s primary patent expired in 2016. That normally would allow cheaper competition on the market. But AbbVie got several dozen additional patents approved and won’t face near-copies, called biosimilars, until 2023 in the United States. In Europe and elsewhere, that competition starts in October and should reduce sales by $2 billion in two years, Divan predicts. “The pressures on Humira are underappreciated,” he says. Meanwhile, sales are rising for AbbVie’s new hepatitis C drug and cancer medicine Imbruvica. But Divan thinks other analysts overvalue potential sales of AbbVie’s experimental medicines. He recommends buying shares of Merck or another drugmaker instead.