AbbVie Inc. obtained its second approval in 2019 of an autoimmune therapy intended to help replace revenue from biosimilar-threatened Humira, as the US Food and Drug Administration okayed Rinvoq (upadacitinib) on 16 August to treat patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had inadequate responses to or cannot tolerate methotrexate.
AbbVie’s Post-Humira Strategy Continues Taking Shape With Rinvoq Approval
AbbVie now has both of its Humira successors approved in the US, following April’s Skyrizi approval for psoriasis. But Rinvoq faces stiff competition both within the JAK1 class and in rheumatoid arthritis generally.

More from New Products
The approval of another Novartis drug with a different mechanism means the company is further cornering multiple parts of IgAN pathogenesis.
It might be the beginning of the end for the orphan drugs party but there is still sales growth enjoyment to be had for the sector, whose star performers are now looking increasingly like mainstream drugs.
Strong sales growth for the German group’s SGLT2 inhibitor in 2024
Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.
More from Scrip
The approval of another Novartis drug with a different mechanism means the company is further cornering multiple parts of IgAN pathogenesis.
It might be the beginning of the end for the orphan drugs party but there is still sales growth enjoyment to be had for the sector, whose star performers are now looking increasingly like mainstream drugs.
The German firm’s chairman, Hubertus von Baumbach, is adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to the threat of pharma tariffs.