AbbVie’s skin disease drug reduces lesions in trial, company eyes weight-loss combination

By Christy Santhosh Oct 22 (Reuters) AbbVie said on Thursday its experimental drug significantly reduced inflammatory lumps and abscesses in patients with a chronic skin disease, meeting the main goal ​of a late-stage study. AbbVie is betting on the drug, ‌lutikizumab, to broaden its immunology franchise, and supplement the growth from its blockbuster drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq. The company expects to begin testing lutikizumab alongside its experimental weight-loss drug, ABBV-295, by the end of the year, AbbVie s immunology head, Kori ‌Wallace, ​told Reuters. The combination aims to address obesity, ⁠which can worsen the skin ⁠condition. Lutikizumab was tested in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, or acne inversa, a condition marked by small, painful lumps to form under the skin. In the 1,400-patient trial, about 31% of patients treated with ​lutikizumab achieved at least a 75% reduction in inflammatory skin lesions after 16 weeks, compared with 23% of those on placebo. Citi ⁠anal