What Is AbbVie No Longer Telling You?
AbbVie’s management has changed what it puts first on its earnings calls. One growth figure used to open the script. Management last mentioned that figure in the fiscal fourth quarter 2025 call. AbbVie (ABBV) never said it would stop reporting it. So which figure was it, and why did it matter?
Which Figure Did AbbVie Once Lead With?
The figure was the growth rate of AbbVie’s business with Humira taken out. Humira is an older AbbVie medicine. Its sales are falling fast. In the fiscal third quarter 2024 call, management said sales came in $260 million above the company’s own expectations. The business “drove this over achievement, including growth of nearly 18%”, management added. A quarter later it put the same growth at 22%. By the fiscal fourth quarter 2025 call, the growth rate was 14.5%.
That figure answered one worry. Humira’s sales were dropping. Management said in the fiscal third quarter 2024 call that volume was moving to other newer treatments faster than it had expected. Holders wanted to know whether everything else could grow fast enough to cover the gap.
The gap is now small. Humira’s revenue fell to $4.5 billion in fiscal 2025. That was down from $9.0 billion the year before. Humira is now 7% of AbbVie’s revenue over the past twelve months. The figure management once reported answers a question that has mostly sorted itself out. The question now is what took its place.
What Is AbbVie Talking About Instead?
The latest call covered the fiscal second quarter 2026. Management talked about products and a deal. Performance at Skyrizi, Rinvoq and its neuroscience business was very strong, management said. It also announced the acquisition of Apogee Therapeutics. Management said the deal would strengthen its immunology business.
Both of those drugs are bigger than Humira. Skyrizi brought in $17.6 billion in fiscal 2025. That was 50% more than the year before. Rinvoq brought in $8.3 billion. Its sales grew 39% over the same year. Humira shrank while both grew.
The rest of the business is more mixed. Botox Therapeutic sales rose 14.8% in fiscal 2025. Botox Cosmetic sales slipped 4.3%. Imbruvica fell 14.3%. None of those three is more than 6% of revenue over the past twelve months. So two drugs are still doing the heavy lifting. That is where the question for a holder starts.
Should You Be Reassured Or Concerned?
Mostly reassured. Management stopped mentioning a figure whose purpose had faded. The business kept growing through the change. Revenue in the latest quarter was 10.2% higher than a year earlier. The stock returned 23% over the past twelve months. The S&P 500 returned 17.9% over the same stretch.
The concern is the reason that old figure existed. AbbVie needed to show investors what it looked like without one dominant drug. Skyrizi and Rinvoq together are now about 40% of its revenue. That is a lot of revenue resting on two names instead of one. If that growth slows, the old worry comes back.
The next quarterly call is the place to look. Watch whether Skyrizi and Rinvoq hold growth rates close to the ones they just posted. Also watch the application AbbVie has filed with the European Medicines Agency. It asks for a new way of starting adults on Skyrizi for Crohn’s disease, which the drug already treats by infusion. If AbbVie sustains these growth rates and secures expanded EMA label approval, the transition in earnings call emphasis may simply reflect an evolving portfolio rather than underlying vulnerability. A clear slowdown in either drug would matter more to your holding than any change in wording.
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