
AbbVie shares slide on sliding Humira revenue; Deerfield is making a big investment in new device startups
→ AbbVie triggered alarm bells on Wall Street today as the pharma company cited biosimilar competition in Europe for a steep decline in expected Humira revenue. Shares $ABBV dropped 7% on the news. Sales in Europe are expected to drop 30% this year, though so far AbbVie has been able to retain market exclusivity for the mega-blockbuster in the US for some years to come.
→ Deerfield Management and Stan Rowe have created a new device incubator called NXT Biomedical. The incubator plans to invest up to $25 million over the next 5 years and Deerfield — a prolific investor — will allocate up to $250 million for 5 to 8 startup companies that emerge from the incubator.
→ Chinese regulators have OK’d a new indication for Amgen’s PCSK9 drug Repatha, adding marketing authorization for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease to reduce the risk of myocardial infarction, stroke and coronary revascularization.