By Pratik Jain and Leroy Leo
(Reuters) -AbbVie expects Botox's market share in the aesthetics space to remain strong even as rivals launch competing anti-wrinkle injections, a company executive said on Wednesday.
Botox sales, especially for aesthetic use, have been under pressure over the last few quarters due to economic uncertainties. Investors have also been concerned about potential market share losses to new entrants such as Revance Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RVNC)' Daxxify and Evolus (NASDAQ:EOLS)' Jeuveau.
Revance's Daxxify has been of particular concern to AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV)'s investors because its effects last about six months - nearly twice as long as Botox.
"We've been incredibly efficient at maintaining our leading share position of about 68%," AbbVie's Chief Commercial Officer Jeffrey Stewart said at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference.
AbbVie is also seeing gains in the cosmetic filler market, he added.
The company gained control over the lucrative anti-wrinkle injection through its $63 billion acquisition of Allergan (NYSE:AGN) in 2020, helping secure new growth avenues before its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira lost exclusivity in the United States last year.
Last week, CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) said it will remove Humira from some of its lists of preferred drugs for reimbursement from April, and instead recommend biosimilar versions of the medicine.
Stewart said CVS' move was "very consistent" with their expectations, and that its newer immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq were performing well, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease.
The company expects the two drugs to generate more revenue by 2027 than Humira's peak sales of $21.2 billion, reached in 2022.
Shares of AbbVie were up nearly 1% in afternoon trade.