Reign­ing cys­tic fi­bro­sis champ Ver­tex wows an­a­lysts, again — but can a heavy­weight con­tender de­liv­er a blow?

Ver­tex has been charm­ing an­a­lysts for years now with its dom­i­nance of the cys­tic fi­bro­sis are­na; the reign­ing champ that has brushed aside a long line­up of ban­tamweight biotechs that could nev­er quite land a sin­gle, sol­id blow. And they did it again Wednes­day evening with a look at Q4 num­bers that made it clear they would con­tin­ue to per­form ad­mirably through the year — pan­dem­ic or no pan­dem­ic.

This year, though, we’ll find out if Ab­b­Vie $AB­BV has the po­ten­tial to step in­to the ring with a ri­val drug that they be­lieve can chal­lenge the champ in a block­buster show­down.

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