AbbVie reports loss as COVID-19 hits Botox sales

Drugmaker AbbVie Inc reported a loss in the second quarter on Friday, as comparable sales from wrinkle treatment Botox, acquired as part of its US$63 billion Allergan Plc deal, slumped due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

FILE PHOTO: A trader works by the post that trades AbbVie on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange March 5, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidREUTERS: Drugmaker AbbVie Inc reported a loss in the second quarter on Friday, as comparable sales from wrinkle treatment Botox, acquired as part of its US$63 billion Allergan Plc deal, slumped due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company had cautioned earlier against a potential hit to sales from Botox and other aesthetic products during the pandemic, as people avoided non-emergency procedures due to shelter-in-place restrictions imposed to control the virus.The drugmaker bought Allergan in May for a hefty sum, acquiring its medical aesthetics business including Botox, hoping the segments would emerge as new growth drivers before AbbVie's arthritis drug, Humira, loses U.S. patent in 2023.

Total Botox cosmetic comparable sales plunged 43.1per cent to US$226 million and therapeutic sales fell 22.3per cent to US$297 in the second quarter ended June 30, on a comparable basis.Like several other drugmakers, AbbVie is also looking to develop a therapy for COVID-19 and collaborating with three organizations, including the Netherlands' Utrecht University, to develop an antibody that targets the spike protein of the virus.

Second-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders was US$738 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with a profit of US$741 million, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier.

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