Skyrizi sales surged 29% as Humira plunged 40%

Signals Inbox·August 1, 2026·Biopharma

Skyrizi generated $5.5 billion last quarter, up 24%, while Humira fell 36% to just $756 million. The bigger story is not simply that a newer drug is growing. Skyrizi alone has now matched Humira’s best-ever quarter, showing that AbbVie has already replaced the blockbuster everyone thought would be almost impossible to replace.

Q1What actually happened?

AbbVie reported that Skyrizi generated $5.505 billion in second-quarter sales, up 24.4% from one year earlier. Humira moved in the opposite direction, falling 35.9% to $756 million as cheaper biosimilars continued taking its market. Rinvoq added another $2.525 billion, but Skyrizi alone was already enough to replace Humira’s former quarterly peak.

Q2Why is $5.5 billion such a big number?

Because it is roughly what Humira made during its strongest quarters. Humira was once the world’s top-selling drug and generated more than $21 billion in its best full year. Skyrizi has now reached that same quarterly scale only a few years after launch. It is no longer an upcoming replacement. It has already become one of the largest drugs in the world.

Q3How completely has Skyrizi replaced Humira?

In quarterly sales, Skyrizi is now more than seven times larger. Add Rinvoq, and AbbVie’s two newer immunology drugs generated just over $8 billion, more than ten times Humira’s remaining sales. The company’s total immunology portfolio still grew 15%, even while its former flagship continued collapsing. That means the replacement is not theoretical anymore. It is visible in the revenue.

Q4Why did everyone expect the Humira decline to hurt more?

Losing exclusivity on a drug like Humira is usually brutal. Once biosimilars enter, prices fall, doctors gain cheaper choices, and billions in protected revenue can disappear quickly. AbbVie knew this was coming and spent years expanding Skyrizi and Rinvoq into psoriasis, arthritis and bowel diseases. The unusual part is how quickly those newer drugs became large enough to absorb the loss.

Q5Does this mean AbbVie has fully escaped the patent cliff?

Mostly, but not permanently. Skyrizi and Rinvoq have turned the immediate Humira crisis into growth, and AbbVie’s immunology business is now larger than before. The next challenge is protecting these drugs, continuing to win against rivals such as Tremfya and building another generation of products before their own patents eventually weaken. Pharma companies never escape the cycle forever.

Q6So why does this matter beyond AbbVie?

It gives big pharma a rare blueprint for surviving the loss of a megablockbuster. AbbVie did not replace Humira through one giant acquisition or a completely different business. It built two newer drugs inside the same broad disease market, expanded them across several conditions and moved doctors toward them before Humira disappeared. The signal is that patent cliffs can be beaten, but only when the replacement engine is already scaling years in advance.