PARIS, Mar 6 (APM) - AbbVie's CEO Richard Gonzalez said on Friday the company is preparing a new version of its anti-TNF agent Humira (adalimumab), the world's biggest-selling drug, in response to the biosimilar threat.

On Thursday, AbbVie announced a project to to buy U.S. biotech specialising in oncology-haematology Pharmacyclics for $21 billion (APMMA 41734).

The transaction is seen as a means of reducing its dependency on Humira which generated sales of $12.5 billion in 2014. For 2015, the forecast is $14.2 billion. The drug is due to lose patent protection at the end of 2016.

Late on Thursday, Gonzalez defended the move to acquire Pharmacyclics - for which analysts consider the price is too high - and stated that the longevity of the Humira franchise would “pleasantly surprise” investors. He plans to say more at the end of the year.

AbbVie's shareprice fell 5.7% to $56.86 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday. Standard & Poor’s confirmed the 'A' corporate credit rating for the group’s debt, but with negative outlook.

He presented the new version of Humira as a “fundamental change in formulation”. He assured that it would not be a mere product modification but a product clearly differentiated from its predecessor. He pointed out it was too early to say whether patients could be switched from Humira to the new product but believed it would make sense.

According to a Citigroup analyst cited by Thomson Reuters, it could be a formulation of Humira with a self-injector that would reduce pain at the injection point and would not require refrigeration. He believes this new formulation could attract 20% of the patients on Humira.

On the acquisition of Pharmacyclics, Gonzalez said AbbVie had had to fight two companies to the “bitter end”. He did not name the companies, but it seems they are Johnson & Johnson and, possibly, Novartis.

He confirmed the transaction would have a negative effect on the 2015 and 2016 accounts and a positive effect as of 2017.

The CEO said the only Pharmacyclics drug on the market, Imbruvica (ibrutinib, co-promoted with Johnson & Johnson in the U.S.) would bring in, at its highest level, over $7 billion in turnover to AbbVie (including over $4 billion in 2019). He mentioned a “pipeline in a drug”, namely, a drug likely to obtain a large number of different indications, like Humira. AbbVie is investing hope in the development of Imbruvica in solid tumours.

Gonzalez is aiming at maximum annual turnover of 15 billion for group total sales in oncology, a field from which AbbVie has been absent until now.

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