AbbVie

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AbbVie Inc.

Type Public company

Traded as NYSE: ABBV
S&P 100 component
S&P 500 component

Industry Biopharmaceutical

Founded 2013; 10 years ago

Founder S Nikhil Kumar

Headquarters North Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Area served Worldwide

(170+ countries)

Key people Richard A. Gonzalez

(Chairman and CEO)
Robert Michael
(Vice Chairman and President)

Products Pharmaceutical drugs

 Humira (adalimumab)
 Imbruvica (ibrutinib)
 Venclexta (venetoclax)
 Zinbryta (daclizumab)
 Kaletra (lopinavir)
 Norvir (ritonavir)
 Mavyret/Maviret
(glecaprevir/pibrentasvir)
 Skyrizi (risankizumab)
 Rinvoq (upadacitinib)
  US$56.20 billion (2021)[1]
Revenue

Operating income  US$17.92 billion (2021)[1]

Net income  US$11.54 billion (2021)[1]

 US$146.53 billion (2021)[1]

Total assets
 US$15.44 billion (2021)[1]
Total equity

Number of  50,000 (Jan 2022)[1]

employees

Website abbvie.com

AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It

originated as a spin-off of Abbott Laboratories.

Contents

 1History
 2Acquisitions
o 2.1Acquisition history
 3Collaboration
 4Products
 5Controversies
o 5.1Drug price hikes
o 5.2Anti-competitive practices
o 5.3Marketing of Opioid painkillers
 6Carbon footprint
 7References
 8External links

History[edit]
On October 19, 2011, Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to separate into two
publicly traded companies. The new Abbott Laboratories would specialize in diversified
products including medical devices, diagnostic equipment and nutrition products, while
AbbVie would operate as a research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer. [2] A
corporate press release stated that the name AbbVie derived from a combination of
"Abbott" with "vie," intended as a reference to a Latin root meaning "life."[3] The
separation was effective January 1, 2013, and AbbVie was officially listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (ABBV) on January 2, 2013.[4]
According to Miles White, CEO at the time, the purpose of the split was to allow markets
to value the two businesses separately.[5] Some investors were concerned that the split
was done to protect the value of the device business from the loss of value facing the
drug division due to the imminent expiration of patents on Humira, which accounted for
about half of the drug division's revenue. [5]
As of December 2015, the company employed in excess of 28,000 globally, and
provided products to individuals in more than 170 countries. [6]
As of October 2022, the company now employs over 50,000 globally and provides
products in over 175 countries.
In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic developed into an international crisis, the
Israeli government announced that it would force AbbVie to license its patents
for Kaletra, the brand name of lopinavir/ritonavir, a fixed dose combination medication
for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS which was also thought to have some
applicability to fighting COVID-19. In response, AbbVie announced that it would cease
enforcing its patents on the drug entirely. [7]
In June 2021, the US Senate Finance Committee, under Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR),
began an investigation to determine if the company used the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of
2017 to buy back its own stock using income saved by the tax law. [8] In a letter to AbbVie
CEO Richard Gonzalez, Wyden noted the company suffered a 2020 pretax loss in the
US of $4.5 billion and an overseas pretax profit of $7.9 billion the same year. Wyden
accused the company of shifting revenue to avoid US taxes. [9]

Acquisitions[edit]
In January 2014, the company acquired ImmuVen for an undisclosed sum. [citation needed] On
September 3, 2014, AbbVie and Infinity Pharmaceuticals announced that they had
entered into a global collaboration to develop and commercialize duvelisib,
Infinity's PI3K inhibitor for the treatment of patients with cancer. On the same day,
AbbVie and Calico announced that they had entered into a R&D collaboration intended
to discover, develop and bring to market new therapies for patients with diseases of
aging including neurodegeneration and cancer. California Life Company, operating as
Calico, is an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary focused on aging and age-related diseases, and
led by former Genentech chairman and CEO of Arthur D. Levinson and former
Genentech EVP and chief medical officer Hal V. Barron (who subsequently left the
company).[10]
In October 2014, after a long negotiation, AbbVie stopped its efforts to acquire Shire,
which would have been one of the largest M&A deals of that year and one of the
largest tax inversions in history, due to changes in the US tax code by the US Treasury;
AbbVie had to pay a $1.6 billion breakup fee. [11]
On March 4, 2015, AbbVie announced its agreement to acquire
the oncology firm Pharmacyclics and its treatment for blood
cancers, ibrutinib; AstraZeneca had also been bidding to acquire Pharmacyclics.[12]
[13]
 Under the terms of the transaction, AbbVie agreed to pay $261.25 per share as a mix
of cash and AbbVie equity. The acquisition valued at approximately $21 billion was
completed on May 26, 2015.[14] The Pharmacyclics name was retained, and it operates
as a subsidiary of AbbVie from its previous Sunnyvale, California, headquarters.[15] On
June 3, 2015, AbbVie and Halozyme Therapeutics announced that they had entered
into a global collaboration and licensing agreement to develop and commercialize
products that combine AbbVie's treatments and Halozyme's ENHANZE drug-delivery
technology, this was terminated in November 2016. [16]
On 28 April 2016, the company announced it would acquire Stemcentrx for up to $9.8
billion.[17] A day later, the company announced an expansion of a two and a half-year-old
cystic fibrosis deal with Galapagos, potentially doubling milestone payments to $600
million.[18]
On 25 June 2019, AbbVie announced it would acquire Irish-based Allergan plc for about
$63 billion; however the transaction would not be structured as a tax inversion, and that
post the transaction, AbbVie (and the group) would remain legally domiciled in the U.S.
for tax purposes;[19][20] AbbVie acquisition of Allergan plc violated antitrust ruled by
the Federal Trade Commission on September 4, 2020, leading to the group divesting
certain assets to enable the merger to proceed.[21][22] In July, the company announced it
would acquire Mavupharma, boosting its cancer drug pipeline. [23][24]
In May 2021, Allergan Aesthetics announced it would acquire Soliton. [25] In June, Abbvie
announced it would acquire TeneoOne and its lead compound TNB-383B. The
compound is a BCMA-targeting immunotherapeutic for relapsed or refractory multiple
myeloma.[26]
In March 2022, Abbvie announced it would acquire Belgian-based Syndesi
Therapeutics for up to $1 billion and its portfolio of novel modulators of the synaptic
vesicle protein 2A and lead compound SDI-118.[27][28] In October, AbbVie announced they
would acquire U.K.-based biotechnology business DJS Antibodies for $225 milion, in a
deal that gives it access to an experimental drug for an aggressive lung disease as well
as technology to develop certain kinds of antibody medicines. [29]

Acquisition history[edit]
show
The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical
predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

Collaboration[edit]
On February 10, 2016, AbbVie and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Synlogic
announced a multi-year R&D collaboration. Synlogic is a synthetic biology company
built on research from the labs of James Collins and Tim Lu at MIT. As part of the
collaboration, AbbVie is getting worldwide rights to Synlogic's probiotic-based
technology for treating inflammatory bowel disease, and the research teams will focus
on Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.[31] In April 2016, the company partnered with
the University of Chicago to investigate a number of areas of oncology: breast, lung,
prostate, colorectal and hematological cancers. [32] In the same month the company
announced it would co-commercialize Argenx's preclinical immunotherapy, ARGX-115.
ARGX-115 is a first-in-class immunotherapy targeting GARP (glycoprotein A repetitions
predominant), a membrane protein believed to enhance the immunosuppressive effects
of T cells.[33] The company also announced a deal to co-develop/commercialize at least
one of CytomX Probody's conjugates against CD71 (transferrin receptor 1).[34]
In March 2020, AbbVie announced plans to evaluate the Kaletra/Aluvia HIV medicine as
possible COVID-19 treatment. The company entered into various partnerships with
health authorities in different countries to investigate the efficacy of the medication.
[35]
 However, the first non-blinded, randomized trial found the drug not useful to treat
severe COVID-19.[36]

Products[edit]
According to the Wall Street Journal as of January 2016 ibrutinib, a specialty drug, cost
US$116,600 to $155,400 a year wholesale in the United States. In spite of discounts
and medical insurance, the prohibitive price causes some patients to not fill their
prescriptions.[37] AbbVie estimates global sales of the drug at $1 billion in 2016 and $5
billion in 2020.[37]
In 2018, it started litigation against NHS England in the Technology and Construction
Court claiming that they breached procurement rules and had not treated the company
fairly during what was described as "the single largest medicines procurement ever
done by the NHS" when seeking suppliers for hepatitis C treatments.[38] In 2019, a UK
court dismissed AbbVie's case against the NHS. [39]
As of 2019, the company remained committed to product development in the cystic
fibrosis disease area, despite major success by their main competitor in the
area, Vertex.[40]

Controversies[edit]
Drug price hikes[edit]
Humira is a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's, and other autoimmune
diseases. First released in 2003, AbbVie has since raised the drug's price by more than
470 percent, culminating in an annual supply now costing about $77,000. It has
increased the price of Imbruvica, a drug used to treat mantle cell lymphoma and other
cancers, by 82 percent since it launched in 2013. In 2022, it’s priced at $181,529. For
patients taking four pills each day, it costs $242,039. [41]
Anti-competitive practices[edit]
AbbVie has been accused of using anti-competitive patent thickets to prevent potentially
cheaper biosimilars from entering the market. It is currently caught up in a legislative
battle against Icelandic Alvotech, which is trying to bring a Humira biosimilar to market. [42]
[43]
 Forest Laboratories, a subsidiary of AbbVie, has been accused of using unlawful
deals to prevent generic versions of its Alzheimer’s disease drug, Namenda, from
entering the market.[44][45]
In 2018, AbbVie agreed to pay $25 million to resolve allegations that it made use of
kickback schemes to promote its cholesterol drug Tricor.[46] In 2020, AbbVie agreed to
pay $24M to resolve allegations that it made use of kickback schemes to promote
its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira using "nurse ambassadors".[47][48]
Marketing of Opioid painkillers[edit]
In July 2022 the company agreed to pay up to $2.37 billion to settle U.S. lawsuits
against its Allergan unit over the marketing of opioid painkillers. As part of the
settlement, AbbVie, denied any wrongdoing. The company's stock fell 6 percent
following an earnings report that included a $2.2 billion charge related to the opioid deal.
[49]

Carbon footprint[edit]
AbbVie reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending
31 December 2020 at 508 Kt (-57 /-10.1% y-o-y).[50] and plans to reduce emissions 25%
by 2025 from a 2015 base year.[51]

AbbVie's annual Total CO2e Emissions - Market-Based Scope 1 + Scope 2 (in kilotonnes)

Dec 2014 Dec 2015 Dec 2016 Dec 2017 Dec 2018 Dec 2019 Dec 2020

679[52] 654[53] 610[54] 583[55] 585[56] 565[57] 508[50]