AbbVie’s Newly Licensed Drug Scores Against Crohn’s Disease
Big Pharma AbbVie ( ABBV ) said Tuesday that a recently licensed drug candidate succeeded in a phase-two trial of Crohn’s disease, as the company seeks to refresh its blockbuster immunology franchise. In the late morning at the Digestive Disease Week conference in San Diego, AbbVie’s researchers presented results from an ongoing phase-two study of risankizumab, a drug AbbVie licensed from Boehringer Ingelheim during the first quarter, in Crohn’s disease. They said that after 12 weeks of treatment, 24% to 37% of patients were in remission — depending on the dose — compared with just 15% in the placebo group. The treated group also had fewer adverse events than the placebo group. Risankizumab is one of a newer group of drugs targeting interleukins, small proteins in cells associated with inflammation, among the proteins is TNF, or tumor necrosis factor. “These results are particularly encouraging because of the difficult-to-treat population within the study,” researcher Brian Feagan said in a statement. “Our patients had endoscopically confirmed moderate or more severe disease activity at study entry and the majority had previously failed treatment with one or more TNF antagonists.” The most popular TNF blocker happens to be Humira, AbbVie’s flagship drug treating Crohn’s disease as well as other immunological conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Humira’s patents are under fire , however, and last week AbbVie’s stock tumbled when the patent board agreed to review a challenge to a methods patent brought by Coherus BioSciences ( CHRS ). Other drugs targeting interleukins include Novartis ‘ ( NVS ) Cosentyx, launched early last year for psoriasis, as well as Eli Lilly ‘s ( LLY ) Taltz, approved for psoriasis in March. Those drugs target interleukin (IL) 17, while risankizumab targets IL-23 through a novel mechanism of action. “The efficacy of this drug looks to be as good (as), or perhaps even better than IL-17,” Evercore ISI analyst John Scotti said in a video for clients recorded May 3. “And remember, Cosentyx peak sales in consensus right now are about $4 billion.” AbbVie stock was up 2.5% in afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 61, and shares in the past week have found support at the 50-day moving average line.