AbbVie

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AbbVie Inc.
TypePublic
NYSE: ABBV
S&P 100 component
S&P 500 component
IndustryBiopharmaceutical
Founded2013; 8 years ago (2013)
HeadquartersLake Bluff, Illinois, United States
Area served
Worldwide
(170+ countries)
Key people
Richard A. Gonzalez
(Chairman and CEO)
Michael Severino
(Vice Chairman and President)
ProductsPharmaceutical drugs
RevenueIncreaseUS$ 45.804 billion (2020)[1]
Increase US$ 11.363 billion (2020)[1]
Decrease US$ 4.622 billion (2020)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$ 89.115 billion (2019)[2]
Total equityDecrease US$ 8.172 billion (2019)[2]
Number of employees
Increase 47,000 (2020)[2]
Websiteabbvie.com

AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It originated as a spin-off of Abbott Laboratories.

History[]

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.[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]

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 into the company probing whether the company used the US 2017 tax law to buy back its own stock using income saved by the tax law's providing billions in tax savings.[8] Wyden, in a letter to AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez, pointed out that the company disclosed it 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[]

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 age-related diseases 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.[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 anti-trust ruled by the Federal Trade Commission on September 4, 2020.[21] In July, the company announced it would acquire Mavupharma, boosting its cancer drug pipeline.[22][23]

In May 2021, Allergan Aesthetics announced it would acquire Soliton.[24] In June, Abbvie announced it would acquire TeneoOne and its lead compound . The compound is a BCMA-targeting immunotherapeutic for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.[25]

Acquisition history[]

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

Collaboration[]

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.[27] 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.[28] 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.[29] The company also announced a deal to co-develop/commercialize at least one of CytomX Probody's conjugates against CD71 (transferrin receptor 1).[30]

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.[31] However, the first non-blinded, randomized trial found the drug not useful to treat severe COVID-19.[32]

Products[]

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.[33] AbbVie estimates global sales of the drug at $1 billion in 2016 and $5 billion in 2020.[33]

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.[34] In 2019, a UK court dismissed AbbVie's case against the NHS.[35]

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.[36]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "AbbVie Reports Full-Year 2020". investors.abbvie.com. AbbVie. 5 February 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "AbbVie Inc. 2019 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". last10k.com. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 19 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Abbott Labs to Split Into 2 Companies". The New York Times. October 19, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  4. ^ "Abbott Completes Separation of Research-Based Pharmaceuticals Business". AbbVie Inc. January 2, 2013. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "More than splitting pills: Health care giant Abbott Laboratories ready to spin off AbbVie". Chicago Tribune. December 30, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  6. ^ "AbbVie - About Us". abbvie.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  7. ^ Bonadio, Enrico; Baldini, Andrea (April 1, 2020). "Drug companies should drop their patents and collaborate to fight coronavirus". The Conversation.
  8. ^ Kovaleski, Dave (2021-06-04). "Senate Finance Committee launches investigation into Abbvie tax practices". Financial Regulation News. Washington DC: Macallan Communications.
  9. ^ Owusu, Tony (2 June 2021). "AbbVie Faces U.S. Senate Pressure Over Tax Payments". TheStreet. New York NY.
  10. ^ "Google-Backed Calico Joins AbbVie in Up to $1.5B Collaboration". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. September 3, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  11. ^ Gelles, David (2014). "After Tax Inversion Rules Change, AbbVie and Shire Agree to Terminate Their Deal". The New York Times (online, October 20 ed.).
  12. ^ Nisen, Max (2015). "AstraZeneca Chases AbbVie, Cheaply". Chicago Business (online, December 17 ed.). Crain's. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  13. ^ Staff (1 April 2015). "AbVie Acquires Oncology Drug Firm Pharmacyclics for $21B". News: Industry Watch. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (Paper). 35 (5): 10.
  14. ^ Rockoff, Jonathan D.; Loftus, Peter (5 March 2015). "AbbVie to Buy Pharmacyclics in $21 Billion Deal". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 June 2015.(subscription required)
  15. ^ "AbbVie (ABBV) Announces Completion of Pharmacyclics Acquisition". StreetInsider.com. May 26, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  16. ^ "Abbvie Terminates Development Deal with Halozyme - GEN". GEN. 21 November 2016.
  17. ^ "AbbVie to Acquire Stemcentrx for Up to $9.8B". GEN. 28 April 2016.
  18. ^ "Galapagos, AbbVie Expand CF Collaboration to Up-to-$600M". GEN. 29 April 2016.
  19. ^ Julia Kollewe (25 June 2019). "Botox maker Allergan bought by US drug giant for $63bn". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  20. ^ Rebecca Spalding; Riley Griffin (25 June 2019). "AbbVie Strikes $63 Billion Deal for Botox Maker Allergan". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 25 June 2019. The deal will return Allergan to the U.S., at least for tax purposes.
  21. ^ "FTC Approves Final Order Imposing Conditions on AbbVie Inc.'s Acquisition of Allergan plc". Federal Trade Commission. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  22. ^ "AbbVie Dives into STING and Boehringer Ingelheim Snaps Up Swiss-based AMAL". BioSpace. July 15, 2019.
  23. ^ "AbbVie Enhances Early Stage Oncology Pipeline with Acquisition of Mavupharma". BioSpace. July 15, 2019.
  24. ^ "Allergan Aesthetics to Acquire Soliton, Expanding Body Contouring Portfolio".
  25. ^ "With Myeloma Drug Proving Merit in Phase I, AbbVie Scoops up TeneoOne".
  26. ^ "AbbVie Announces Commencement of Exchange Offers and Consent Solicitations for Allergan Notes". BioSpace.
  27. ^ "AbbVie, Maker of World's No. 1 Drug, Bets Synthetic Biology Startup Can Raise the Bar". February 10, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  28. ^ "AbbVie, University of Chicago Launch Cancer Research Alliance". GEN. 20 April 2016.
  29. ^ "AbbVie to Co-Develop argenx's Cancer Immunotherapy ARGX-115 - GEN News Highlights - GEN". GEN.
  30. ^ "AbbVie to Co-Commercialize CytomX's Probody Drug Conjugates". GEN.
  31. ^ "Covid-19 treatment tested through HIV medicine by AbbVie". Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  32. ^ Cao B, Wang Y, Wen D, Liu W, Wang J, Fan G, et al. (March 2020). "A Trial of Lopinavir-Ritonavir in Adults Hospitalized with Severe Covid-19". New England Journal of Medicine. 382 (19): 1787–1799. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2001282. PMC 7121492. PMID 32187464. This randomized trial found that lopinavir–ritonavir treatment added to standard supportive care was not associated with clinical improvement or mortality in seriously ill patients with Covid-19 different from that associated with standard care alone.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b Walker, Joseph (1 January 2016). "Patients Struggle With High Drug Prices". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  34. ^ "NHS England taken to court over 'largest ever medicines procurement'". Health Service Journal. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  35. '^ Burki, Talha (2019). "UK court dismisses Abb Vies legal challenge against the NHS". The Lancet. 393 (10169): 307–308. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30156-4. S2CID 72332746.
  36. ^ Carroll, John (October 25, 2019). "AbbVie doubles down on cystic fibrosis R&D, adding a new drug to the pipeline as Vertex seals its domination of the field with Trikafta OK". EndpointNews.

External links[]

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