AbbVie angered at 'pay-for-delay' Humira claims

24 April 2018

Since October of 2017, US drugmaker AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) has reached two settlements with biosimilar manufacturers over the entry date of their biosimilar versions of Humira (adalimumab) into the US market.

As the world’s best-selling drug, the arthritis treatment earned AbbVie $18.4 billion in 2017, and the company will continue to rake in such sums until 2023, when the two deals allow for the competitors – the US biotech Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) and Korea’s Samsung Bioepis – to enter the market with their cheaper versions.

While that seems to keep the companies involved happy, it is not a fair solution for patients who will continue to pay the price of the original drug, says the action group Patients For Affordable Drugs (P4AD), which has called on the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether the recently-announced deal with Samsung Bioepis is anti-competitive and violates antitrust laws.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK