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Investors Business Daily
Technology
ALLISON GATLIN

AbbVie Skids As 'Temporary Economic Headwinds' Crunch Botox Sales

AbbVie stock skidded Friday after "temporary economic headwinds" hamstrung its aesthetics drugs, including face-filler Botox, during the third quarter.

Overall, AbbVie's medical aesthetics division generated $1.3 billion in sales. On a strict, as-reported basis, sales climbed 4%. The bigger U.S. segment saw sales decline more than 7%. Offsetting that, international revenue surged almost 26%.

Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez noted immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq helped mitigate the aesthetics underperformance. The duo will be important in the future when AbbVie's biggest med, an immunology treatment called Humira, loses patent protection.

"We continue to see strong momentum from our key immunology assets, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, and this performance — combined with strength from other growth drivers within our diverse portfolio — has mitigated the impact of temporary economic headwinds on our aesthetics products to deliver another quarter of strong results," he said in a report.

But on today's stock market, AbbVie stock toppled 3.8% to 147.61.

AbbVie Stock: A Mixed Third Quarter

The third quarter was, by and large, a mixed bag for AbbVie. Adjusted earnings beat views at $3.66 per share, but total sales came in light at $14.81 billion. Sales inched roughly 3% higher and earnings surged more than 29%.

But revenue from Humira missed expectations at $5.56 billion. Though sales rose 2.5%, they came in below expectations for $5.59 billion, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond said in a note. Meanwhile, Skyrizi beat forecasts at almost $1.4 billion, but $695 million in Rinvoq sales missed.

In the aesthetics division, Botox sales increased nearly 17% to $637 million while Juvederm revenue sank close to 1% to $352 million. Botox sales missed the $641 million forecast, but Juvederm was in line, Raymond said.

Both cancer drugs, Imbruvica and Venclexta, lagged at $1.14 billion and $515 million respectively. Imbruvica sales toppled more than 17%, though Venclexta eked out a single-digit gain. Meanwhile, the neuroscience franchise missed "badly," Raymond said. He noted misses from Parkinson's drug Duodopa and migraine treatment Ubrelvy. Botox therapeutic sales matched forecasts at $699 million.

For the year, AbbVie narrowed its earnings outlook to $13.84-$13.88 per share, but kept the same midpoint. The company didn't offer sales guidance. AbbVie stock analysts forecasted adjusted profit of $13.85 per share and $58.92 billion in sales.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.

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