AbbVie: Who will bear the burden after taking over the king of medicine Humira?

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In January 2013, Abbvie officially separated from Abbott and became a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of prescription drugs

In 2021, AbbVie will become the TOP3 global pharmaceutical company, and Humira will also have a critical moment in whether it can break through the annual sales of 20 billion U.

Source: Heat Informatics

As expected, with the continuous expansion of indications, Humira's sales have repeatedly broken new highs

Even so, there is no alternative

Humira's sales in recent years (unit: billion U.

Heroes are late, and newcomers come out from generation to generation

TOP10 global pharmaceutical companies in 2021 (US$ billion)

Of course, AbbVie is also looking for countermeasures for this, just like Abbott’s helplessness back then

However, AbbVie does not want to give up the field of self-immunity, which has been arrogant for more than 10 years, especially the global sales network that has been cultivated for many years

Rezalizumab: Obvious advantages and accelerated competition

Skyrizi (Rezalizumab) is an IL-23 p19 monoclonal antibody developed by AbbVie, which can more completely inhibit IL-23 activity by selectively inhibiting the p19 subunit of IL-23

Skyrizi is approved for indications (Source: NextPharm)

In terms of market sales, Rezalizumab has surpassed the earlier similar drug Gusekizumab

Sales data of Rezalizumab and Gusekizumab (unit: million US dollars)

However, Eli Lilly’s IL-23p19 monoclonal antibody mirikizumab has also obtained positive data in psoriasis clinical studies compared to tracuzumab (IL-17A), but Eli Lilly has voluntarily given up the global psoriasis of mirikizumab.

In fact, not only psoriasis, but also Humira's approved indications in the field of self-immunity, competition is accelerating

Upatinib: Security Risks, Divide Difficulty

However, the biggest drawback of the above-mentioned drugs is the way of administration.

In 2019, upatinib was approved to be marketed for the first time.

Source: NextPharm

In 2021, upatinib was successively approved for psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis in Europe, which should have moved on a faster development path; however, the pace of development in the United States has been paused

On June 23, AbbVie announced the positive data of the phase III clinical study of upatinib in the treatment of ulcerative colitis

In addition, even if upatinib finally crossed the safety gap, the indications have been approved one after another
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Then, other JAK inhibitors may also usher in regulatory approval
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According to the medical Rubik's cube data, 7 drugs in the field of Jak inhibitors have been launched.
It can be said that upatinib is hardly a Humira->
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Moreover, for Jak inhibitors, the biggest challenge is not only the PDE4 inhibitor Otezla (apster) with safety advantages, but also the Tyk2 inhibitor Deukravacitinib and its follow-up products from the "same root brothers"
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According to the key data of the two III clinical studies disclosed in April, among the patients with psoriasis who received Deucravacitinib, at week 16, compared with the treatment with apremilast, significantly more patients achieved PASI 75 and sPGA 0/ 1Double primary endpoint, the benefit continued to increase at week 24
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Tyk2 inhibitor products will not produce the dyslipidemia adverse reactions of JAK inhibitors.
At the same time, the proportion of patients who discontinue the drug due to adverse reactions in the deucravacitinib group is lower, and there are no reports of serious adverse effects including infections, shingles, opportunistic infections or thrombosis.
Event
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Concluding remarks

It can be said that Skyrizi (Rezalizumab) and Rinvoq (Upatinib) do have the potential to succeed Humira, such as a wide range of indications and good market performance
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However, in the current competitive landscape, it may be difficult for one to dominate
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Time has changed
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Humira will eventually become a legend, and whether Skyrizi or Rinvoq can succeed in shaping the next legend, let time continue to answer
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