North Chicago-based AbbVie’s revenue tumbles as its blockbuster drug Humira faces competition

Revenue at North Chicago-based AbbVie dove by nearly 10% during the first few months of this year — a drop that comes as its bestselling drug Humira faces competition for the first time in the U.S.

The company reported net revenues of $12.23 billion for the first quarter of this year, a decrease of 9.7% on a reported basis compared with the first three months of last year, but slightly beating analysts’ average estimate of $12.17 billion. Revenue from Humira alone fell 25.2% on a reported basis to $3.5 billion.

The drop in Humira revenue “is tracking as expected, with much of the impact driven by price,” said AbbVie Chairman and CEO Richard Gonzalez, in an earnings call Thursday morning.

Humira is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and other conditions. It has been AbbVie’s top-selling drug, and one of the most popular prescription drugs in the world.

AbbVie was able to hold off competition for Humira for years through patent litigation and settlements with other drugmakers. AbbVie built up more than 130 patents around Humira, and then sued the makers of copycat versions of the drug for patent infringement. AbbVie and those other companies then settled the lawsuits, with agreements that the companies would not try to sell their copycat versions of Humira in the U.S. until 2023.

It’s a strategy that patient advocates criticized, saying it kept the price of Humira high. As of late last year, Humira cost as much as $81,590 a year before rebates and discounts, according to SSR Health. In March, the federal government criticized AbbVie for raising the price of Humira too quickly and said it would have to pay back Medicare.

Now that 2023 has arrived, more than half a dozen copycat versions of Humira, called biosimilars, are expected to hit the market. The first one, by Amgen, launched in the U.S. in late January, at a list price as much as 55% lower than Humira’s, according to Amgen.

AbbVie hopes that two of its other drugs, Skyrizi, which treats plaque psoriasis, and Rinvoq, which treats rheumatoid arthritis, will eventually bring in more money than Humira brought in at its peak.

Revenue for Skyrizi rose nearly 45% on a reported basis to $1.36 billion during the first quarter, compared with the first quarter of last year. Sales of Rinvoq were $686 million, up about 48% on a reported basis.

Though sales of both those drugs have grown quickly, their revenues during the first quarter were a little soft compared with what analysts were expecting, said Damien Conover, director of health care equity research at Morningstar.

“Those drugs are really, really key to offsetting those biosimilar pressures,” Conover said. AbbVie’s overall earnings this quarter were mostly as expected, he said.

AbbVie’s stock was down about 8% Thursday morning.