Amgen launches an AbbVie Humira biosimilar in the U.S.

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By Sam Boughedda

After a dip earlier in the session, AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) shares are now slightly up on the day, holding steady, despite Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) announcing AMJEVITA, a biosimilar to Humira, is now available in the United States.

AMJEVITA was the first biosimilar to AbbVie's Humira approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is now available in the U.S. at a list price 5% below the current Humira list price, Amgen said.

"With today's announcement, AMJEVITA is the first U.S. biosimilar to Humira®, a medicine used by more than a million patients living with certain serious inflammatory diseases," said Murdo Gordon, executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations at Amgen. "With our track record of developing and manufacturing biologics and decades of experience in inflammation, Amgen is uniquely equipped to supply this biosimilar medicine while reducing costs."

Reacting to the news, Truist analysts told investors in a note that "AMGN (Hold) is offering both a 55% discount, as well as 5% discount for their Humira biosimilar Amjevita on current Humira list price (typically ~30% expected), which in our view creates an interesting pricing dynamic."

"We note AMGN will be first-to-market with their biosimilar 40mg Humira (called Amjevita) at WAC price of 55% discount to Humira's current list price, which we believe payers will care about pricing and volume supply dynamics. We also note Amjevita is also available at list price 5% below current Humira list price," wrote the analysts.

They added: "While Humira is a Part D drug, the biggest questions are 1) how much price erosion AMGN will have to do to keep Enbrel and Otezla on formulary; 2) How much will Abbvie (ABBV, Buy) cut Humira; 3) Will payors be forced to switch or keep Humira on par as 95% of Humira users are long-term."

The analysts went on to state that while several companies have been approved or have approvals pending for their biosimilar Humira, they believe Amgen and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) will probably own the largest market shares, with Coherus BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ:CHRS) "potentially grabbing a piece of the pie later."