With quarterly earnings underway, BioPharma Dive is providing a snapshot of some companies’ results and how they’re being received by investors. Today, we’re offering insight into the latest numbers from Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK and AbbVie.

AbbVie angst

AbbVie reported $16.6 billion worth of net revenue in the final three months of 2025, a 10% year-over-year increase. The total was a bit above what analysts generally predicted, with the “vast majority of revenue upside” coming from a surprise performance by Humira, according to David Risinger of Leerink Partners. 

Once the world’s best-selling drug, Humira has been in decline since generic competition entered the market a few years ago. But in the fourth quarter, the $1.2 billion the drug brought in was almost 30% higher than Wall Street expectations.

Most of AbbVie’s other products were roughly in-line with estimates, with one exception being Rinvoq, which fell below with a quarterly revenue of nearly $2.4 billion. Those performances may be why company shares were, at one point Wednesday, down more than 6%.

Phipps, of William Blair, highlighted how it was the second quarter in a row that Rinvoq didn’t meet analyst forecasts. At the same time, Skyrizi — the other immune system-regulating drug AbbVie has pegged as a partial successor to Humira — had only a “slight beat.”

“Investors continue to have concerns about growing competition for the company’s [immunology] franchises,” Phipps wrote in a note to clients. One particular point of worry, he added, is how Rinvoq and Skyrizi will fare in the inflammatory bowel disease market since the relatively recent entries of Johnson & Johnson’s Tremfya and copycat versions of Stelara.

AbbVie recorded $61.2 billion in net revenue across all of 2025, reflecting an 8.6% annual gain. For this year, the company said adjusted diluted earnings per share will land somewhere between $14.37 to $14.57.

Though such a range “should be viewed positively” by investors, Cantor Fitzgerald’s Carter Gould argues that “the focus is more on the revenue and product-level guides,” especially for Skyrizi. — Jacob Bell

A bifurcated vaccine market

Vaccine makers are facing a unique challenge in one of their largest markets. The sudden, drastic shift in U.S. vaccine policy, combined with growing skepticism and declining immunization rates, has imperiled sales as well as future vaccine research. 

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel has already reportedly said his company won’t invest in late-stage vaccine trials due to the contentious climate. Now, some of the world’s top vaccine manufacturers are reporting slowing sales numbers that could provide insight into how the situation will play out in the coming years. 

Last week, French pharmaceutical Sanofi said that vaccine sales fell 2.5% in the fourth quarter and are anticipating negative sales growth next year. That’s in large part due to performance in the U.S., where revenue dipped for immunizations against polio, meningitis, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. 

GSK is now reporting similar trends. 

The British drugmaker said Wednesday that while overall vaccine sales were up 2% in the fourth quarter, its growth was driven by sales in Europe and elsewhere, while U.S. numbers tumbled for its influenza, RSV and shingles vaccines. Its shingles vaccine, Shingrix, faced the sharpest decline, with sales plummeting 17% in the U.S. due to heightening difficulty reaching unvaccinated individuals. 

While the earnings for adult shots were the most affected, GSK has yet to see how the new changes to the U.S. childhood immunization schedule will affect the rest of GSK’s vaccines. Nina Mojas, head of the company’s global product strategy, said the impact should be “manageable” given its broad vaccine portfolio. 

"We continue to monitor the evolving pediatric vaccine landscape in the U.S,” Mojas said during an earnings call. 

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolled back six immunization recommendations for children in response to a directive from President Trump. The schedule was scaled down to recommend 11 vaccines from the previous 17. 

At least so far, however, insurance coverage “remains as before,” Mojas added. GSK expects vaccine sales to either be “stable” or decline by a “low-single digits percent” in 2026. — Delilah Alvarado

Bristol Myers’ waiting game

Bristol Myers’ “growth portfolio” lived up to its name in 2025, helping the company deliver fourth-quarter and full-year revenues that were a tick higher than analyst estimates.

The portfolio spans 18 products, most of which are used to treat cancer or regulate the immune system. Collectively, revenue from this group rose 17% last year, and accounted for 55% of the total $48.2 billion Bristol Myers recorded. Standout performances, according to William Blair analyst Matt Phipps, came from the anemia shot Reblozyl, the heart drug Camzyos and the cell therapy Breyanzi.

Wall Street had hoped to see Cobenfy, a first-of-its-kind treatment for schizophrenia that generated $51 million in the fourth quarter, bring in a bit more during that three-month period. Bristol Myers took control of Cobenfy back in 2024, through an acquisition worth $14 billion. The company has been looking to ramp up sales by notching additional approvals in more common conditions like bipolar disorder or the agitation, psychosis and cognition problems that often accompany Alzheimer’s disease.

A trio of late-stage studies evaluating Cobenfy against Alzheimer’s psychosis are set to produce results this year. Analysts have pinpointed those trials as some of Bristol Myers’ most important near-term “catalysts,” along with Phase 3 readouts for the company’s experimental myeloma drugs iberdomide and mezigdomide and its blood thinner milvexian.

“We see the continued outperformance of the growth portfolio as a positive signal on execution, with attention pointing to [back half of the year] datasets for further confidence on the mid- to long-term revenue trajectory,” wrote Raymond James analyst Sean McCutcheon in a note to clients.

Bristol Myers is under pressure to further build out that portfolio, given the steep declines across most of its “legacy” drugs like Revlimid and Pomalyst. Its top-seller, Eliquis, is also poised to lose key patent protections in 2028, putting more than a quarter of Bristol Myers’ annual revenue in jeopardy.

For 2026, the company forecasts revenue reaching around $46 billion to $47.5 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $6.05 to $6.35. Those figures are “in line to moderately above” Wall Street expectations, McCutcheon wrote.

Shares of Bristol Myers climbed more than 3% Thursday. — Jacob Bell