Humira launch costs hit Abbott
pharmafile | October 27, 2003 | News story | |Â Â Â
Abbott Labs recorded a 6% drop in profits for the first quarter of 2003 following heavy spending on the launch of its new arthritis drug Humira.
The company says Humira is the single most important new product it has ever produced, and has made significant investments in its launch and marketing, which contributed to a 12% increase in selling and other costs.
Sales of the drug in the first quarter reached a better-than-expected $26 million, prompting Abbott to raise its full year forecast for the drug from $150 million to over $200 million.
The drug gained final FDA approval in December, six months earlier than anticipated, and will now have its European launch in the second half of this year.
Humira is a humanised monoclonal antibody for rheumatoid arthritis, discovered by Cambridge Antibody Technology, and is estimated to exceed sales of $500 million by 2004 with peak sales of $1 billion.
Abbott is pursuing five additional indications psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and ankylosing spondylitis each of which could add several hundred million dollars to peak revenue.
Total sales were up 9% to $4.6 billion, excluding sales of $1 billion from TAP Pharmaceuticals, Abbott's joint venture with Takeda, which markets the proton pump inhibitor drug Prevacid and cancer therapy Lupron.
The company's overall US pharmaceutical sales rose 13% to $1.1 billion, with solid growth from Flomax, Depakote and Kaletra. But international sales rose by a more disappointing 3% to $1.4 billion.






