Yahoo Finance AbbVie Inflated Prices For Two Major Drugs, Engaged In Anticompetitive Practices, House Oversight Report Says
AbbVie Inc (NYSE: ABBV) significantly inflated prices over the past two decades for patients in the U.S. who take the drugs Humira and Imbruvica, a report released by the House Oversight and Reform Committee found.
The committee concluded that the price increases led to billions of dollars in corporate revenue and hefty bonuses for company executives.
“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 states.
The report comes after the panel reviewed more than 170,000 internal data, documents, and communications related to the medications over the last 18 years.
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., issued a subpoena for the documents last year because the company refused to cooperate with a previous request for the materials.
A representative for AbbVie did not respond to a request for comment.
Humira, a rheumatoid arthritis treatment, was released in 2003 when the company was Abbott Laboratories. AbbVie has since raised the cost frequently, and by more than 470%, with an annual supply now costing about $77,000, the report said.
In 2020 alone, AbbVie reported billion in U.S. net revenue for Humira.
AbbVie faces no current competition in the U.S. from biosimilar versions of Humira, even though six biosimilars have received FDA approval.
Meanwhile, AbbVie, in conjunction with Janssen Biotech, has increased the price of Imbruvica, a drug used to treat mantle cell lymphoma and other cancers, by 82% since it launched in 2013.
In 2013, the drug was priced at $99,776 annually. Today, it’s priced at $181,529.
Experts estimate that by 2026, Imbruvica will be the fourth best-selling drug in the U.S.
Today’s full committee hybrid hearing with AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez and experts on pricing practices for Humira and Imbruvica has begun at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Price Action: ABBV shares closed up 0.27% at $117.21 on Tuesday.
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