FILE PHOTO: A screen displays the share price for pharmaceutical maker AbbVie on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange July 18, 2014. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
July 24, 2018
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Short-seller Andrew Left’s Citron Research expanded on his prediction that U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc’s <ABBV.N> stock would fall to $60 a share, arguing that new regulations to speed biosimilar drugs to the market and reform rebates will hurt revenue from the company’s top-selling drug, Humira.
Left initially tweeted the $60-a-share call last Thursday. The shares fell as much as 7 percent that day before closing 4.7 percent lower. On Tuesday afternoon AbbVie shares were trading around $91.00.
In a research note published Tuesday afternoon, Left detailed his skepticism about AbbVie’s prospects. “There finally seems to be changes coming to the system,” he wrote.
Other analysts have said that deals AbbVie has signed with rivals like Amgen Inc <AMGN.O>, Biogen Inc <BIIB.O> and Mylan NV <MYL.O> to prevent them from launching biosimilar competitors to Humira until 2023 will likely protect the company from any of the moves regulators make in the near-term.
Last week, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb laid out a plan to increase biosimilar competition for biologic drugs. The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would scale back protections currently in place that allow rebates between drug manufacturers and insurers and pharmacy benefits managers.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Leslie Adler)
