Whether peak annual Humira sales will ever reach the Lipitor benchmark is open to conjecture.
FORBES: The Best Selling Drugs of All Time; Humira Joins The Elite
Yet, if Humira yields a high return for June, than the U.S. estimate may be conservative.
FORBES: Abbott Labs Should Deliver, Pipeline 'Unappreciated' Says RBC
If its ability to continue selling Humira is compromised, Abbott will become a very different company.
FORBES: Abbott Labs Looks Cheap But The Devil Is In The Details
Morgan analyst Chris Schott notes that drugs like Humira are known to cause worsening of congestive heart failure.
That said, if Humira can maintain the growth momentum seen in Q4 2012, these estimates may be revised upwards.
FORBES: The Best Selling Drugs of All Time; Humira Joins The Elite
Abbott Laboratories' Humira, for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease, has been one of the pharmaceutical industry's biggest success stories.
Shares in Abbott Laboratories, whose top-seller Humira has the most to lose if tofacitinib is a success, popped 2%.
Suppressing that chemical, as Humira does, lays the body open to infection.
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At AbbVie, the business is largely focused on proprietary pharmaceuticals such as Humira, which is expected to lose patent protection in 2016.
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Post spin off, Abbott Labs is now left with generic drugs as research-based proprietary drugs like Humira have been retained by AbbVie.
Humira will remain a solid contributor, but if new products threaten its standing Abbott has several late-stage pipeline opportunities that could offset any possible loss in Humira sales.
FORBES: Abbott Labs Should Deliver, Pipeline 'Unappreciated' Says RBC
However since the split is effective from January 1, earnings will include sales from proprietary drugs including Humira and AndroGel, which are expected to exhibit continued strong growth.
Humira, Enbrel, Rituxan, Herceptin and Lantus being the chief candidates.
FORBES: The Best Selling Drugs of All Time; Humira Joins The Elite
Abbott (nyse: ABT - news - people ) is betting that Humira can make inroads by being more convenient and perhaps safer than these other drugs.
Abbott Laboratories' ( ABT - news - people ) Humira, for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease, has been one of the pharmaceutical industry's biggest success stories.
AbbVie will be even more reliant on the success of Humira in the first year of the split as its cholesterol drug franchise takes a hit from various patent expirations.
FORBES: A Less Acquisitive Abbott Labs Will Split in Two Come January
He points out that with Enbrel and Humira, two drugs from Amgen and Abbott Laboratories that are the most used treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), many patients remain in serious pain.
In March this year, NICE said adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel) and infliximab (Remicade) could only be used in the context of research, even for those patients who had failed on one anti-TNF.
Both companies, however, will have to deal with a new entrant, Humira, which is made by Abbott Laboratories (nyse: ABT - news - people ) and was just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
He points out that with Enbrel and Humira, two drugs from Amgen (nasdaq: AMGN - news - people ) and Abbott Laboratories (nyse: ABT - news - people ) that are the most used treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), many patients remain in serious pain.
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