AbbVie’s Power Play: Skyrizi, Rinvoq are Making Up For Humira

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AbbVie’s Power Play

The worry with Abbvie was that once the Humira patent expired, this would be a business in huge decline. Well, the patent expired and two new drugs took the torch. During their latest earnings call, the pharma giant revealed a business performing so far above our expectations that they had to do something becoming routine: raise their financial forecast for the third time this year.

Led by Chairman and CEO Rob Michael, the executive team laid out a narrative of powerful growth, savvy pipeline investments, and a clear-eyed strategy for the next decade. But it wasn’t all a party. While its medical drugs are flying off the shelves, the company’s high-flying Aesthetics portfolio (think Botox and Juvederm) is feeling the pinch of a nervous consumer.

Here’s a breakdown of the good, the bad, and the analyst grill session from AbbVie’s blockbuster quarter.

📈 The Good News: An Absolute Growth Machine

To put it simply, AbbVie’s core business is on fire. The company delivered another excellent quarter , posting adjusted earnings of $1.86 per share, a solid $0.10 above their own guidance. Total revenues hit nearly $15.8 billion, smashing expectations by about $300 million.

This success wasn’t a fluke; it was driven by what the company calls its growth platform, which is more than making up for the predictable, massive decline of its former cash cow, Humira.

The Dynamic Duo: Skyrizi and Rinvoq

The undisputed heroes of the AbbVie story are its two next-generation immunology medicines, Skyrizi and Rinvoq. These two drugs posted a combined sales growth of more than 40%.

Skyrizi: This drug is a monster in the best way possible. It raked in $4.7 billion in global sales, a staggering 46% bump. In psoriasis, it’s not just competing; it’s dominating, capturing an impressive 50% in-play patient share for biologics in the U.S..
Rinvoq: Not to be outdone, Rinvoq pulled in nearly $2.2 billion, a 34.1% jump.

Together, they are rapidly conquering the world of gastroenterology (IBD), where they are on pace to nearly double their combined sales in IBD this year. They’ve achieved share leadership in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in dozens of countries. The nice thing about these drugs for investors is that they are both under patent until 2033 and a recent lawsuit settlement seems like it’ll ward off generic competition on Rinvoq until 2037. It’s possible that biosimilars come into play sooner than that but at least for the next few years, Abbvie seems to have two new cash cows driving growth again.

The Unsung Hero: Neuroscience

While immunology gets the headlines, Rob Michael highlighted that Neuroscience is now their second largest and fastest-growing therapeutic area. This division posted “exceptional performance,” growing 19.6% to over $2.8 billion in revenue.

Migraine: The migraine portfolio (Ubrelvy, Qulipta, and Botox Therapeutic) is delivering robust double-digit growth. Qulipta has already become the “#1 CGRP treatment for migraine prevention”.
Parkinson’s: The launch of VYALEV for Parkinson’s disease has been “very impressive” , with sales jumping 40% sequentially from the last quarter to $138 million.

The Future Looks Solid

AbbVie isn’t just riding its current winners; it’s aggressively building its future. The company is pouring $9 billion into adjusted R&D in 2025 to support a robust pipeline with approximately 90 programs.

They’ve also been on a shopping spree, acquiring Gilgamesh’s next-generation psychedelic for depression (bretisilocin) and closing the deal for Capstan Therapeutics, which gives them a cutting-edge in vivo CAR-T platform. Both of these companies have drugs that are still a ways away from being viable but that’s just how acquisitions work in this space.

On the R&D front, R&D chief Roopal Thakkar announced positive Phase III results for Rinvoq in both alopecia areata (hair loss) and vitiligo (skin pigmentation loss), opening up potentially huge new markets. That’s great news for a drug that’s already growing quickly.

📉 The Headwinds: When Consumers Get Squeamish

For all the celebration, one area was a notable drag: Aesthetics. The division, which includes Botox Cosmetic and the Juvederm line of fillers, saw global sales drop 4.2% to $1.2 billion.

Botox Cosmetic sales were $637 million.
Juvederm sales were $253 million.

CCO Jeff Stewart blamed challenging market conditions. He explained that “overall consumer sentiment remaining quite low, especially in the U.S. as concerns about the economy and inflation weigh on discretionary spending”.

This isn’t just a blip. The market softness was bad enough that AbbVie had to cut its full-year sales forecast for the aesthetics division by $200 million.

The other predictable drag was the “Old Guard.”

Humira: As expected, biosimilar competition is decimating sales. Revenues plunged 55.7% to $993 million. That does show what can happen to a drug once it loses patent protection as Humira was a $21B a year revenue drug in 2022 and quickly fell to $9B by 2024 and will end this year lower than that. It’s clear that Abbvie has done a good job replacing that revenue but it also shows how quickly tides can change if a company can’t develop a blockbuster drug to take the growth reigns from one moving in the negative direction.
Imbruvica: The oncology drug is facing expected sales decline due to competitive dynamics.

🎙️ The Analyst Q&A: Drilling Down on Policy, Parkinson’s, and That Pipeline

After the prepared remarks, the analysts pounced, focusing on the biggest risks and opportunities.

1. On Policy (PBMs & IRA): An analyst immediately asked about Cigna’s new PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Manager) model and the recently concluded IRA price negotiations .

Rob Michael’s Take: He was unbothered. On PBMs, he stressed that AbbVie’s strength is its differentiated medicines and that the company can adapt effectively to any model, just as it does internationally. On the IRA, he admitted the “administration’s focus on achieving greater reductions… was very clear” but stated flatly that the outcome for Vraylar and Linzess will not impact their long-term guidance.

2. On Parkinson’s (VYALEV vs. The Competition): Another analyst wanted to know how AbbVie’s new Parkinson’s franchise is really doing .

The Answer: AbbVie is cleaning up. Jeff Stewart said VYALEV has a capture rate of 80-85% against its rival. Roopal Thakkar then delivered a detailed clinical takedown, explaining why. He noted VYALEV offers “full 24-hour” control versus the competitor’s 16 hours , can be used as a monotherapy (letting patients get off oral pills) while the competitor is just an adjunct, and has dramatically lower rates of side effects like sedation, dyskinesia, and nausea .

3. On Aesthetics (When Will it Rebound?): Someone asked what leading indicators AbbVie is watching for a rebound in the struggling aesthetics market.

Jeff Stewart’s Answer: It’s “challenging to predict”. They are watching three things: overall consumer confidence, the return of middle-income consumers who are currently on the sidelines , and HA filler sentiment, which has at least stabilized.

4. On Guidance (You’re Going to Beat It, Right?): Someone pointed out the obvious: AbbVie is so far ahead of schedule that its 2027 guidance for Skyrizi and Rinvoq looks like a lowball and asked if they’d update it.

Rob Michael’s Pivot: Michael essentially confirmed it. “It’s reasonable to assume that we will exceed that long-term guidance,” he said. But he skillfully pivoted, arguing that investors should stop focusing only on S&R and look at the underappreciated parts of the business. He pointed to the deep neuroscience franchise and the next wave of immunology drugs beyond S&R as the real, less-understood value.

5. On M&A (What’s Next?): Finally, Asad Haider from Goldman Sachs asked about the M&A strategy after the recent deals .

Rob Michael’s Strategy: The focus is 100% on assets that can drive growth in the next decade and beyond. He made it clear that because their current portfolio is so strong, they don’t need to buy late-stage assets. Instead, they’re hunting for novel mechanisms and platform technologies in their core areas and their new play, obesity.

In all, the call painted a picture of a company in an enviable position: its main growth drivers are overperforming, its pipeline is deep and well-funded, and its biggest problems are either predictable (Humira) or partially external (the economy’s effect on aesthetics). It does seem like the economy excuse has been used in a variety of earnings calls lately so it’ll be interesting to see how that transitions into 2026.

While overall, the earnings were solid, the stock did take a dip in the days after. I think partially that was driven by valuation as the stock is trading around an 18x multiple on next 12 months normalized earnings. That’s higher than it’s been in quite some time and the 3 year average has been closer to 15x. It’s possible the market is just now realizing the growth potential of these two new drugs and how can they can drive growth into the early 2030s but it’s also possible the stock has gotten a bit ahead of itself and in need of a correction.

As AbbVie heads into 2026, its momentum looks undeniable but the valuation is a bit extended as well.

Disclosure : This is not investment advice, please do your own due diligence before making any investment decisions. I own shares of AbbVie and may own other companies discussed in this article in the future.