The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

I’ve avoided ABBV (luckily for me, given its poor share-price performance) because I’ve had a large position in ENTA since 2013 and I didn’t want my portfolio to be tied even more strongly to the commercial prospects of Mavyret (on which ABBV pays ENTA a royalty on worldwide sales).

Now that Mavyret’s position in the HCV marketplace is safely entrenched (essentially a 50/50 duopoly between ABBV/ENTA and GILD), owning ABBV and ENTA wouldn’t increase my overall portfolio risk to the same degree that it would have previously.

Still, I’m not sure I like ABBV’s planned acquisition of AGN (#msg-149577810). Other than Botox and dermal fillers, AGN’s portfolio and pipeline don’t impress me much. Moreover, beginning in 2020 Botox will face the most formidable competition it’s ever faced, from RVNC’s Daxi (a/k/a RT002).

p.s. RVNC is one of my largest holdings.