It has been a horrible quarter for biotechs, and for AbbVie it just got worse.
Moments ago specialty pharma drug company AbbVie which had a market cap of over $80 billion plunged over 10% after the FDA unexpectedly issued a warning of "serious liver injury risk with hepatitis C treatments Viekira Pak and Technivie.
"Specifically the FDA, which approved Technivie for use in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 4 infections in patients without scarring and poor liver function (cirrhosis), said that "hepatitis C treatments Viekira Pak and Technivie can cause serious liver injury mostly in patients with underlying advanced liver disease. As a result, we are requiring the manufacturer to add new information about this safety risk to the drug labels.
It adds that "patients taking these medicines should contact their health care professional immediately if they develop fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, yellow eyes or skin, or light-colored stools, as these may be signs of liver injury. Patients should not stop taking these medicines without first talking to their health care professionals. Stopping treatment early could result in drug resistance to other hepatitis C medicines. Health care professionals should closely monitor for signs and symptoms of worsening liver disease, such as ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, variceal hemorrhage, and/or increases in direct bilirubin in the blood.
The immediate result is that ABBV shares are tumbling...
... while those of its biggest Hep C competitor Gilead Sciences, are spiking by 6%.
And just like that, the day of another happy camper in hedge fund hotel stocks, Glenview - which is long 17.9 million shares of ABBV - was ruined.
