AbbVie Inc. has posted strong net earnings of US$ 1,517 million during the fourth quarter ended December 2015 as against a net loss of $810 million in the corresponding period of last year due to lower selling, general and administrative costs. Its net revenues increased by 17.4 per cent to $6,400 million as compared to $5,452 million. EPS worked out to $0.92 as compared to negative $0.51 in the last period.
Its selling, general and administrative expenditure declined by 48 per cent to $1,737 million from $3,341 million. Its R&D expenditure increased by 22.3 per cent to $1,075 million from $879 million. Operating earnings reached at $2,113 million as against a loss of $415 million.
It submitted a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for ibrutinib to the US FDA for use in treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. It also submitted a NDA and marketing authorisation application for venetoclax in patients with relapsed/refractory CLL in patients with chromosome 17p deletion to the FDA and European Medicines Agency. It received three FDA breakthrough therapy designations for venetoclax.
Richard A Gonzalez, chairman and CEO, said, “AbbVie delivered strong performance in 2015, exceeding original sales, margin expansion, and earnings projections for the year. We achieved significant growth in 2015, and expect to continue building on that momentum in 2016 with another year of strong performance.”
For the full year ended December 2015, AbbVie's revenues increased by 14.5 per cent to $22.9 billion from $20 billion in the previous year. Its net earnings increased strongly by 190 per cent to $5.1 billion from $1.8 billion. EPS for full year worked out to $3.13 as against $1.10 in the last year.
The sales of Humira reached at $14,012 million and that of Viekira amounted to $1,639 million. The sales of Lupron reached at $826 million. The sales of Humira in US reached at $8,405 and that in international markets moved up to $5,607 million.
The company expects its diluted earnings per share guidance of $4.90 to $5.10 on an adjusted basis for the full year 2016.