Abbott’s Humira to top Avastin as best-selling drug

Abbott Laboratories’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira will outsell Roche Holding AG’s Avastin cancer medicine by 2016 to become the world’s most lucrative drug, according to research company EvaluatePharma. Revenue from Humira will increase about 9 per cent annually to $10.1bn in 2016 from $5.6bn in 2009, London-based EvaluatePharma said in a statement today. “Clinical setbacks” aimed at broadening Avastin’s use to fight tumors will probably cap its 2016 sales at $8.9bn, the research company said. Avastin had been expected to eclipse Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor, used to lower cholesterol, as the world’s top-selling drug, EvaluatePharma said. Lipitor will face competition from cheaper generic versions after its patent expires next year. Still, New York-based Pfizer will remain the world’s largest drugmaker, aided by its $68bn acquisition of Wyeth last year, EvaluatePharma said. Merck & Co, of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, is set to be second. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, based in Petah Tikva, Israel, will rank among the world’s 10 largest pharmaceutical companies by 2016 as the generic-drug maker benefits from a looming “patent cliff,” the research company said.