(Reuters) -AbbVie Inc has set aside about $2 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits against its Allergan unit over the marketing of its opioid products, the company said on Friday.
No final deal has been announced. AbbVie faces more than 3,000 lawsuits from state and local governments around the country over the drug. It has denied wrongdoing.
The company recorded $2.20 billion for litigation in the second quarter, mainly because of a charge tied to a potential settlement of lawsuits involving Allergan’s past sales of opioid products. That includes opioid painkiller Kadian.
The charge comes days after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd announced a $4.35 billion settlement of opioid lawsuits.
Teva acquired Allergan’s generic drugs business in 2016, and the companies’ settlement efforts are linked. Teva’s settlement was contingent on Allergan reaching a nationwide deal.
Despite the charge, AbbVie on Friday reported an adjusted profit of $3.37 per share, beating the $3.31 expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv data. The results were buoyed by strong demand for the company’s plaque psoriasis drug Skyrizi and Botox anti-wrinkle injection.
Sales of Skyrizi surged 86% to $1.25 billion, beating market estimates. AbbVie is counting on the drug, as well as rheumatoid arthritis treatment Rinvoq, to make up for the sales hit from the impending loss of patent exclusivity for its blockbuster drug Humira. Rinvoq’s sales rose 56.3%.
But weak demand for its cancer drugs Imbruvica and Venclexta weighed on overall sales, which at $14.58 billion were below analysts’ expectations of $14.64 billion.
Imbruvica sales of $1.15 billion missed estimates of $1.28 billion.
AbbVie shares fell 1.3% to $147.80 in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Aditya Soni)
