BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: ABBVIE AND AMGEN

Another Series of Strong Earnings Reports For Brand Name Giants Fueled by Egregious Price Increases

This week, Big Pharma giant AbbVie and Amgen both held earnings calls for the third quarter where they reported financials that topped Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The strong earnings follow price hikes earlier in the year from both brand name drug makers.

AbbVie

• AbbVie reported third quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street expectations.
• The drug maker reported second-quarter revenue of $13.93 billion.
• AbbVie raised its earnings guidance for the full year and upped its quarterly dividend for 2024.
• Arthritis treatments Skyrizi and Rinvoq brought in $2.1 billion and $1.1 billion in the quarter, respectively, up 52 percent and 60 percent year over year.
• AbbVie’s blockbuster arthritis drug Humira, which notched the top spot for the world’s best-selling drug for a tenth straight year in 2022, brought in an additional $3.54 billion.

Amgen

• Amgen reported earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.
• The drugmaker posted revenue of $6.9 billion for the third quarter.
• Amgen’s cholesterol drug Repatha brought in $406 million in Q3, while psoriasis drug Otezla brought in $567 million.

The Wall Street-besting earnings reports for the third quarter follow several rounds of price increases from both companies in recent years.

AbbVie

• AbbVie hiked prices on 40 prescription drugs in January of this year, including eight percent increases each on the company’s blockbuster autoimmune drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq.
• This July, AbbVie again increased the price of plaque psoriasis drug Skyrizi by four percent.
• In 2022, AbbVie increased prices on more than 40 prescription drugs.
• In 2021, the company launched almost 50 price increases across its portfolio.

Amgen

• Amgen started 2023 by raising prices on more than 20 prescription drugs, including plaque psoriasis drug Otezla by 7.4 percent.
• Amgen hiked prices on 33 prescriptions in 2022, including a four percent increase on popular rheumatoid arthritis drug Enbrel.
• A recent U.S. House Committee on Oversight report found that Amgen hiked prices of blockbuster drugs Enbrel and Sensipar to meet revenue targets.

Read more on third quarter earnings from Novartis, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb HERE.

Read about Johnson and Johnson’s Wall Street topping third quarter earnings HERE.

And stay tuned as we continue to monitor earnings calls from Big Pharma in the coming weeks.