AbbVie Inc. on Friday reported fourth-quarter results that
topped Wall Street expectations amid strong sales growth, even as
expenses related to its scuttled merger with Shire PLC dragged the
company to a loss.
The company's long-awaited multidrug regimen for hepatitis C,
Viekira Pak, registered $48 million in sales in the days following
its Dec. 19 approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The
all-oral product is expected to generate more than $2.5 billion in
sales for AbbVie in 2015, analysts estimate.
The approval of Viekira comes as AbbVie looks to lessen its
reliance on Humira, the highest-selling drug in the world, as it is
slated to start losing its patent protection by the end of 2016.
Pharmaceutical companies in general have experienced sales
pressures as they lose patent exclusivity to big-selling drugs, and
AbbVie has become heavily reliant on Humira for its sales and
profit growth.
AbbVie, which was spun out of Abbott Laboratories two years ago,
is also on the lookout for acquisitions to beef up its product
pipeline in the wake of its scrapped merger with Shire PLC. AbbVie
walked away from the $54 billion bid to acquire the drug maker in
October after the U.S. Treasury Department took steps to make
so-called "tax inversion" deals less appealing.
In the latest period, Humira posted a 15.8% increase in U.S.
sales to $1.93 billion. World-wide, the drug posted a 10.6% sales
gain to $3.36 billion.
Overall, AbbVie reported a loss of $810 million, or 51 cents a
share, compared with a profit of $1.13 billion, or 70 cents a
share, a year before. Excluding items, per-share earnings were 89
cents.
Net sales rose 6.7% to $5.45 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected 86 cents in
per-share earnings on $5.36 billion in revenue.
Operating costs and expenses surged 64% to $5.87 billion, as
selling, general and administrative costs nearly tripled from a
year ago to $3.34 billion.
Research and development costs rose 10% to $879 million.
AbbVie also backed its full-year outlook.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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