Boom Times For Autoimmune Disease Therapies

AbbVie’s Skyrizi, an injectable drug for autoimmune diseases that include psoriasis and Crohn’s disease, is expected to surpass $33 billion in revenue in 2032, making it the world’s second-biggest selling drug, according to a recent report from pharma consultants Evaluate. That puts it smack between Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 blockbusters, Mounjaro (for diabetes) and Zepbound (for weight loss).

“Only autoimmune disease drugs come close to rivaling Lilly’s anti-obesity blockbusters given their potential to treat dozens of conditions driven by self-directed immune system attack,” the Evaluate researchers write. They now expect drugs that modulate the immune system to grow at a compounded annual rate of more than 9%, ahead of the pace of the popular metabolic drugs.

“It is a boom right now,” says Jane Grogan, executive vice president and head of research at Biogen, the $31 billion (market cap) biotech firm that recently expanded its immunology pipeline with the purchase of RayThera for up to $1 billion. “We’re really excited about what’s coming in the immunology space, especially in lupus, which has been a hard-to-crack disease.”

Autoimmune diseases are complicated: More than 50 million Americans suffer from 100 different autoimmune diseases that include rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and lupus.

But scientific breakthroughs are paying off, both at Big Pharmas and at biotech startups. Venture capitalists have been pouring money into the field—a total of $2.1 billion of the total $9 billion-plus in biotech VC funding so far this year went to immune-system disorders, according to data from trade publication BioPharma Dive.

Skyrizi’s skyrocketing sales since its first FDA approval in 2019 show the field’s–and AbbVie’s–strength. “It’s completing the playbook they’ve done with Humira,” says Dan Chancellor, vp of thought leadership at Evaluate’s parent company, Norstella, citing the wildly successful drug for an array of inflammatory diseases.

Other immunology blockbusters include Sanofi’s Dupixent used for eczema and asthma (projected sales over $20 billion, according to Evaluate), AbbVie’s Rinvoq for 10-FDA approved indications including rheumatoid arthritis and atopic dermatitis ($17 billion) and argnx’s Vyvgart for myasthenia gravis, a condition that disrupts communication between the body’s nerves and muscles ($10 billion).

“There are real breakthroughs in terms of identifying novel targets,” says Karen Massey, CEO of $58 billion (market cap) argenx. “It’s similar to oncology a decade or so ago.”

Still, as Norstella’s Chancellor notes, what goes up eventually comes down, and newer breakthroughs are likely to be in more niche areas, like myasthenia gravis, rather than mega-blockbusters for common ailments like rheumatoid arthritis. “We’re certainly still on the upswing for immunology, but the cycle will come to an end,” he says.

When OpenAI wants to sell the country’s biggest health systems on its healthcare ambitions, it often brings in one person a hospital CEO won’t ignore: Sam Altman.

Altman, 41, is OpenAI’s billionaire cofounder, CEO and chief converter of skepticism into purchase orders. He has sold investors, boards of directors and governments on the idea that OpenAI is the engine of the next computing era. Now he is personally making that case to hospitals.

Altman's involvement in these sales calls underscores just how central healthcare is to OpenAI’s ambitions. In January, the AI behemoth announced eight major health systems, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and HCA Healthcare, are now customers of its enterprise-grade healthcare tools.

OpenAI has also tapped hundreds of doctors to make its health answers better for the more than 230 million people globally who turn to ChatGPT for advice every week. It’s rolling out a new version of ChatGPT for clinicians, as well as “ChatGPT Health,” a tab within the main app that allows consumers to securely connect their medical records and their wellness apps, such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal (it’s waitlist-only currently). And its models power other health companies’ tools to create clinical notes and help consumers understand their lab results. OpenAI has rolled out three new products focused on healthcare in the past six months alone.

“It is one of our most important verticals at OpenAI,” says Nate Gross, who leads OpenAI’s healthcare strategy. While the company is also making a play for other big markets like education and finance, Gross says, “everyone experiences health issues and this is an opportunity to help everyone.”

Healthcare, after all, represents some 18% of the entire U.S. economy. And AI has huge potential to help consumers make better decisions about their health, aid doctors in providing better care and assist health systems in running their operations more efficiently—if it’s done right.

The company’s sweeping push into healthcare comes at a make-or-break moment for the company, which reportedly lost $39 billion last year on revenue of $13 billion. It filed confidentially to go public in June, but under pressure from investors is now said to be considering delaying its IPO until next year.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Crinetics Pharmaceuticals for $10 billion in cash, gaining a drug for a rare endocrine disorder. That medication, called Palsonify, launched commercially last September to treat acromegaly, a disease in which the pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone, causing some bones, organs and other tissues to grow bigger. Crinetics has other treatments for hormonal disorders in its pipeline, including for congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Vertex estimated that Crinetics’ drugs have the potential to reach peak annual revenue of more than $5 billion. The Boston-based company reported $12 billion in revenue last year, a 9% increase over 2024, largely on the strength of its therapies for cystic fibrosis. The deal is the largest in Vertex’s history, and came together amid a torrid pace of biotech M&A this year.

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