Up­dat­ed: Ab­b­Vie ax­es two can­di­dates as com­pa­ny rev­enue drops near­ly 10%

Ab­b­Vie is dump­ing two can­di­dates in cys­tic fi­bro­sis and Crohn’s dis­ease at the same time the drug­mak­er is grap­pling with dwin­dling sales of Hu­mi­ra, long the world’s top-sell­ing drug — and CEO Rick Gon­za­lez is talk­ing about how he will even­tu­al­ly tran­si­tion away from his role at the helm.

The phar­ma gi­ant said Thurs­day that it is dis­con­tin­u­ing the cys­tic fi­bro­sis pro­gram af­ter see­ing in­ter­im re­sults from a proof-of-con­cept study. Ab­b­Vie al­so said it halt­ed de­vel­op­ment of AB­BV-154, an an­ti-TNF an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gate that it was in­ves­ti­gat­ing in polymyal­gia rheumat­i­ca (PMR) and Crohn’s dis­ease, cit­ing con­cerns about the ben­e­fit-risk pro­file at high­er dos­es.

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