ABBV's Improving Oncology Sales Poise It Well for Long-Term Growth

AbbVie ABBV is known for its strong immunology franchise comprising blockbuster drugs like Skyrizi, Rinvoq and Humira. However, AbbVie has also built a substantial oncology franchise with products like Imbruvica and Venclexta.

Some key oncology drugs approved in the past couple of years are AbbVie and partner Genmab’s Epkinly for relapsed or refractory (r/r) third-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and third-line r/r follicular lymphoma, and Emrelis, which was approved in May 2025 for previously treated non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer with high c-Met expression. Elahere was added to AbbVie’s oncology portfolio with the February 2024 acquisition of Immunogen. These three new drugs have strengthened AbbVie’s oncology franchise. Elahere and Epkinly both delivered double-digit revenue growth in the first half of 2025. Emrelis should start to contribute to oncology sales from the second half of 2025.

AbbVie’s oncology segment generated combined revenues of $3.3 billion in the first half of 2025, rising 4.2% year over year as higher sales of Venclexta and contributions from new drugs, Elahere and Epkinly, more than offset declining Imbruvica sales due to competitive pressure.

Our estimates for AbbVie’s oncology portfolio suggest a CAGR of 3.5% over the next three years. 

AbbVie is also strengthening its portfolio of oncology medicines with the addition of antibody-drug conjugates or ADCs. The ADCs are considered a disruptive innovation in the pharmaceutical industry as they will allow better treatment of cancer by harnessing the targeting power of antibodies to deliver cytotoxic molecule drugs to tumors. The company now has two ADCs in the commercial portfolio (i.e., Elahere and Emrelis) and two additional promising next-generation ADCs in late-stage development (Temab-A and pivekimab sunirine), plus some others in early-stage development.

Another key candidate in its oncology pipeline is etentamig/ABBV-383, a BCMA CD3 bispecific being developed for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Overall, AbbVie’s oncology business is well-positioned for growth over the next several years, despite continued competitive pressure on Imbruvica.

Competition in the Oncology Space

Other bigger players in the oncology space are AstraZeneca AZN, Merck MRK, Bristol-Myers and Pfizer PFE.

For AstraZeneca, oncology sales now comprise around 43% of total revenues. Sales in its oncology segment rose 16% in the first half of 2025. AstraZeneca’s strong oncology performance was driven by medicines such as Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Calquence and Enhertu (in partnership with Daiichi Sankyo).

Merck’s key oncology medicines are PD-L1 inhibitor Keytruda and PARP inhibitor Lynparza, which it markets in partnership with AstraZeneca. Keytruda, approved for several types of cancer, alone accounts for around 50% of Merck’s pharmaceutical sales. Keytruda’s sales rose 6.6% to $15.1 billion in the first half of 2025.

Bristol-Myers’ key cancer drug is PD-L1 inhibitor, Opdivo, which accounts for around 20% of its total revenues. Opdivo’s sales rose 9% to $4.82 billion in the first half of 2025.

Oncology sales comprise more than 25% of Pfizer’s total revenues. Its oncology revenues grew 9% in the first half of 2025, driven by drugs like Xtandi, Lorbrena, the Braftovi-Mektovi combination and Padcev, which made up for declining sales of drugs like Ibrance. Pfizer has also ventured into the oncology biosimilars space and markets six biosimilars for cancer. Pfizer also advanced its oncology clinical pipeline with several candidates entering late-stage development, like sasanlimab, vepdegestrant and sigvotatug vedotin. 

ABBV’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

AbbVie’s stock has gained 21.2% so far this year compared with an increase of 0.2% for the industry.

From a valuation standpoint, AbbVie is not very cheap. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 15.54 forward earnings, higher than 14.64 for the industry. The stock is also trading above its five-year mean of 12.69.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has declined from $12.03 per share to $12.02, while that for 2026 has increased from $14.08 to $14.31 per share over the past 30 days.

AbbVie currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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