A branded-medicine maker living off a few big drugs
AbbVie sells branded prescription medicines for serious diseases, plus medical aesthetics products. Its direct customers are wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, specialty pharmacies, government agencies, and some doctors, who buy on behalf of patients, insurers, and other healthcare payers. AbbVie earns money by discovering a medicine, proving it works in hard-to-treat conditions, winning doctor and insurer adoption, and then supplying it for years. A few large products carry most of the revenue. Each one commands strong prices until its patent protection ends and cheaper copies enter, which is when its sales fall. So the business depends on having newer medicines ready to replace the older ones.