A recent report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee concluded that AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) aggressively increased prices of popular drugs, including the bestseller Humira (adalimumab), which brought in close to $20 billion last year. Approximately $16 billion of those sales were in the U.S.
In recent years, the company also repeatedly increased the price of the small-molecule drug Imbruvica (ibrutinib), according to the report, which is the result of a two-year investigation. AbbVie jointly markets Imbruvica with Janssen (NYSE:JNJ).
An annual supply of Humira costs approximately $77,000, while a year’s worth of Imbruvica is $181,529, according to the House report. The price of the latter has increased 82% since the drug launched in 2013. Outside of the U.S., the cost of Humira has fallen in recent years.
“AbbVie pursued a variety of tactics to increase drug sales while raising prices for Americans, including exploiting the patent system to extend its market monopoly, abusing orphan drug protections to further block competition, and engaging in anticompetitive pricing practices,” the report said.
The House report also accuses AbbVie of obstructing its investigation.
Last week, AbbVie’s CEO Richard Gonzalez testified virtually before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform where he was asked about AbbVie’s pricing practices. Gonzales stressed that AbbVie provides some medications to patients unable to afford them and argued that most Americans have access to affordable medicines.
An AbbVie spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
Earlier this month, Iceland-based Alvotech filed a federal lawsuit seeking to end AbbVie’s Humira monopoly. The privately-held company is developing a biosimilar of Humira known as AVT02, which the firm estimates could save the U.S. healthcare system $8–10 billion annually.
AbbVie has accused Alvotech of stealing Humira’s trade secrets.
Tell Us What You Think!