Pfizer Gets Global Patent License for AbbVie’s Humira

On Nov. 30, 2018, AbbVie announced patent license agreements with Pfizer over Pfizer’s proposed biosimilar adalimumab product, which references AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab). Humira is AbbVie’s top-selling drug with $18.4 billion in 2017 sales.

Under the terms of the agreements, AbbVie will grant Pfizer a non-exclusive license on specified dates to AbbVie's intellectual property relating to Humira in the United States and in various other countries around the world in which AbbVie has intellectual property. 

AbbVie reports that Pfizer's US license will begin on November 20, 2023 and will not be accelerated by the entry of companies who have already taken a license. In the European Union, Pfizer can launch its adalimumab product upon approval from the European Medicines Agency.

Pfizer will pay royalties to AbbVie for licensing its Humira patents and acknowledges the validity of the licensed patents. AbbVie will make no payments to Pfizer. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Source: AbbVie