AbbVie Inc., a pharmaceutical company based in North Chicago, Illinois, has raised its profit forecast for the full year, driven by strong demand for its newer anti-inflammatory treatments such as Rinvoq and Skyrizi. These drugs are intended to fill the gap left by the blockbuster arthritis drug Humira after it lost its patent protection last year and cheaper biosimilar drugs began to capture market share.

The revised annual earnings expectations now range between $11.13 and $11.33 per share, an increase from the previous forecast, which was at a maximum of $11.17 per share. Before the opening of the US market, the company's shares rose by 2% and have recorded an increase of 8% since the beginning of the year.

In the first quarter, AbbVie achieved total sales of 12.3 billion US dollars, exceeding Wall Street forecasts of 11.9 billion US dollars. The adjusted quarterly earnings per share were 2.31 US dollars, surpassing the average analyst estimate of 2.23 US dollars.

Robert Michael, Chief Operating Officer of AbbVie, who will replace long-time CEO Richard A. Gonzalez in July, commented, "The results of the first quarter were far above our expectations, driven by the excellent performance of our growth platform outside of Humira."

The combined revenue of Skyrizi and Rinvoq amounted to 3.1 billion US dollars in the first quarter, exceeding the average Wall Street estimate of 2.95 billion US dollars. The revenue from Humira reached 2.27 billion US dollars – more than analysts expected, but significantly below the 3.54 billion US dollars of the previous year. Revenues from the oncology and neuroscience sectors have also increased since the first quarter of last year.

The aesthetics division of the company, which includes products like Botox and Juvederm, however, generated revenues of 1.25 billion US dollars, thus missing the forecasts of 1.34 billion US dollars.