By Dean Seal


AbbVie raised its annual adjusted earnings guidance after revenue unexpectedly rose in the first quarter as lower sales of Humira were offset with gains elsewhere.

The drugmaker now expects adjusted earnings, which strip out one-time items, of $11.13 to $11.33 a share for the year. That's up from previous guidance for $10.97 to $11.17 a share.

For the first quarter, AbbVie posted a profit of $1.37 billion, or 77 cents a share, compared with $239 million, or 13 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted earnings were $2.31 a share, above analyst forecasts for $2.26 a share and AbbVie's guidance for $2.18 to $2.22 a share, according to FactSet.

Revenue advanced to $12.31 billion from $12.23 billion last year. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting a decline to $11.93 billion.

Sales of its immune-disease therapy Humira, which is facing biosimilar competition, fell by 36% to $2.27 billion. Sales of its arthritis drug Skyrizi were up 48% at $2.01 billion while sales of its arthritis drug Rinvoq surged 59% to $1.09 billion.

Revenue from the three heavyweights was down 3.9% overall at $5.37 billion, but still cleared analyst projections for $5.17 billion, according to FactSet.

Global sales from AbbVie's oncology portfolio meanwhile jumped 9% to $1.54 billion. Its neuroscience portfolio grew sales by 16% to $1.97 billion while revenue from its aesthetics portfolio dropped 4% to $1.25 billion.


Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-26-24 0825ET