U.S. pharmaceutical giant AbbVie has announced the acquisition of biotechnology company Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 billion, marking the company\u2019s largest acquisition in more than five years. The deal will strengthen AbbVie\u2019s portfolio of treatments for inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis and asthma.<\/p>\n
The acquisition is one of the largest biotechnology deals of 2026 and reflects accelerating consolidation across the global pharmaceutical industry. Major drugmakers are seeking to expand their product pipelines as several blockbuster medicines approach the expiration of their patent protection.<\/p>\n
For AbbVie, this challenge is particularly significant. Following the introduction of biosimilars, the company has experienced declining sales of its former flagship drug Humira, which was long one of the world\u2019s best-selling medicines. In addition, AbbVie is preparing for the eventual loss of patent protection for its current top-performing products, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, in the coming years.<\/p>\n
As part of the transaction, AbbVie will gain access to Apogee\u2019s lead asset, zumilokibart, which is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of several inflammatory diseases. Analysts believe that, if successfully commercialized, the drug could become a serious competitor to Dupixent, the blockbuster therapy developed by Sanofi and Regeneron.<\/p>\n
One of zumilokibart\u2019s key advantages may be its more convenient dosing schedule. While Dupixent is typically administered every two weeks, zumilokibart is being tested as a subcutaneous injection given once every three or even six months.<\/p>\n
Immunology is AbbVie\u2019s largest business segment. In 2025, sales of immunology products exceeded $30 billion, representing a 14% increase compared with the previous year. Growth was primarily driven by Skyrizi and Rinvoq, which offset a 49% decline in Humira sales.<\/p>\n
AbbVie CEO Robert Michael described the acquisition of Apogee as a strategically important move, noting that the company\u2019s pipeline assets have the potential to become \u201cmegablockbusters\u201d capable of generating more than $10 billion in annual revenue.<\/p>\n
AbbVie has offered Apogee shareholders $135.11 per share, representing a premium of nearly 50% over the company\u2019s market value before the deal was announced. The acquisition will be financed through debt.<\/p>\n
Following the announcement, Apogee shares surged by approximately 50%, while AbbVie stock gained around 4.6%.<\/p>\n
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. AbbVie projects that the acquisition will begin contributing positively to earnings per share starting in 2032.<\/p>\n
For the Ukrainian market, the deal is noteworthy because treatments for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the global pharmaceutical industry. AbbVie\u2019s stronger position in immunology could intensify competition among manufacturers of innovative medicines, some of which are already available\u2014or may eventually become available\u2014in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":151805,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-151804","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/151804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=151804"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=151804"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=151804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}