AbbVie needs to brace itself for Humira competition in Europe

Although US drugmaker AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) has done a sterling job in fending off competition to its Humira (adalimumab), the world’s biggest selling medicine and still growing, at least in Europe, that is all likely to come to an end later this year.

Humira biosimilars will have significant uptake in the European Union since they are anticipated to be priced 10%-20% lower than the originator brand across the EU. This will be further facilitated by the quotas that healthcare authorities have in place for biosimilar prescription, says data and analytics company GlobalData.

One of the highest quotas are from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), which recommends that 90% of new patients and 80% of patients currently receiving therapy, be prescribed the lower cost biologic (or biosimilar) within 12 months of the launch of a biosimilar.