AbbVie [NYSE: ABBV] is an American research-based
biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and markets both,
biopharmaceuticals and small molecule drugs.
It started as a spin-off of the globally diversified
American multinational medical devices and healthcare corporation, Abbott
Laboratories [ABT] in 2013. Abbott signaled its intentions to separate into two
publicly traded companies in October of 2011.
Abbott wanted to concentrate on medical devices, diagnostic
equipment and nutrition products, while allowing AbbVie to focus on
research-based pharmaceuticals. The drug maker focuses on immunology, oncology,
neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health and gastroenterology.
The company had a hugely successful start in the industry,
netting close to $19 billion in sales in its first year with its blockbuster
drug, Humira, leading the charge.
With ten approved uses in the US and more than a dozen
around the world, Humira (by far, AbbVie’s biggest sales generator) has emerged
as the world’s top-selling prescription drug, accounting for some 60% of the
company’s total sales.
Humira is designed to prevent TNF from attacking healthy
cells. TNF is a protein produced naturally by the body’s immune system. People
with certain autoimmune conditions produce too much TNF. Humira binds the TNF
molecules which, in turn, stops them from attaching to healthy cells and
attacking them.
A Chicago Tribune article called the star drug “the Swiss
army knife of pharmaceutical drugs” because it is approved to treat a slew of
conditions affecting the skin, joints, spine and gastrointestinal tract.
The bestseller drug is prescribed by doctors to treat
Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Crohn’s disease, Ankylosing
Spondylitis, Uveitis and Hidradenitis Suppurativa, to name a few.
But the drug comes with a hefty price tag as the
medication’s cost could accrue up to $60,000 a year per patient.
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