UnitedHealth to Keep AbbVie’s Blockbuster Drug Humira Available

AbbVie Inc.’s blockbuster drug Humira will remain available to members of UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s pharmacy benefits manager alongside up to three other similar medications, as one of the world’s top-selling treatments faces its first competitors in the US next year.

The decision disclosed by Heather Cianfrocco, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx unit, at the HLTH conference Tuesday in Las Vegas is at least a partial win for AbbVie. The company’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira has generated almost $200 billion in sales in nearly two decades on the market. Competing versions from other manufacturers, known as biosimilars, are set to debut in the US in 2023, giving prescription drug plans a chance to pit different suppliers against one another for discounts.