AbbVie's Rinvoq shows superiority over Humira in head-to-head study
AbbVie announced that its arthritis drug Rinvoq demonstrated superiority over Humira in a head-to-head trial involving 492 rheumatoid arthritis patients. The trial revealed that 43.3% of Rinvoq patients experienced improvement, compared to 22.4% for Humira. Additionally, 28.4% of Rinvoq patients showed no visible symptoms, versus 14.5% for Humira. AbbVie is relying on Rinvoq and Skyrizi to offset declining Humira sales following its patent expiration and the emergence of biosimilars.
Oct 20 (Reuters) - AbbVie (ABBV.N) said on Monday its newer arthritis drug Rinvoq showed superiority over the company’s previous bestseller Humira in a head-to-head trial.
The study tested the two drugs in 492 patients with an immunity-related condition called rheumatoid arthritis. About 43.3% of patients receiving Rinvoq saw an improvement in their condition compared with 22.4% of patients on Humira, meeting the main goal of the trial.
The drug also met the trial’s secondary goal, with 28.4% of patients on Rinvoq showing no visible signs or symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis compared with 14.5% of patients on Humira.
AbbVie has been banking on its newer immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq to counter the drop in Humira sales due to a loss of exclusivity and competition from cheaper biosimilars. Humira generated peak global sales of more than $21 billion in 2022 before it lost patent exclusivity in the U.S.
