IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) Awarded Prix Galien 2015 Best Pharmaceutical Agent

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Oct 28, 2015, 08:30 ET

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., Oct. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a global biopharmaceutical company, announced today that IMBRUVICA^® (ibrutinib) was awarded the prestigious Prix Galien 2015 Award for Best Pharmaceutical Agent. IMBRUVICA won this distinction out of 24 category nominees, all of which were deemed innovative in the field of medicine and were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the past five years. IMBRUVICA is jointly developed and commercialized by Pharmacyclics LLC, an AbbVie Company and Janssen Biotech, Inc.

"We are honored that IMBRUVICA, a first-in-class, oral therapy has been recognized by the Prix Galien USA Committee for the role it continues to play in treating patients with certain blood cancers," said Erik von Borcke, President of Pharmacyclics. "Our goal is to continue developing clinically meaningful, scientifically sound therapies that offer healthcare professionals and their patients the opportunity at the best possible outcome, allowing them to resume as normal a life as possible."

Considered to be the biomedical industry's highest accolade, the Prix Galien Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the development of new therapies. The Prix Galien was created in France in 1970 in honor of Galen, the father of medical science and modern pharmacology. Worldwide, the Prix Galien Award is generally regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in biopharmaceutical and medical technology research.

About IMBRUVICA
IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) is currently approved for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one prior therapy, all CLL patients who have del 17p and patients with Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia.¹ IMBRUVICA is also approved for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) who have received at least one prior therapy. Accelerated approval was granted for the MCL indication based on overall response rate. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.¹

IMBRUVICA is a first-in-class, oral, once-daily therapy that inhibits a protein called Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK).¹ IMBRUVICA was one of the first medicines to receive U.S. FDA approval via the new Breakthrough Therapy Designation pathway, and is currently the only product to have received three Breakthrough Therapy Designations.

BTK is a key signaling molecule in the B-cell receptor signaling complex that plays an important role in the survival and spread of malignant B cells.^1,2 IMBRUVICA blocks signals that tell malignant B cells to multiply and spread uncontrollably.¹

IMBRUVICA is being studied alone and in combination with other treatments in several blood cancers. More than 6,100 patients have been treated in clinical trials of IMBRUVICA conducted in 35 countries by more than 800 investigators. Currently, 13 Phase III trials have been initiated with IMBRUVICA and 67 trials are registered on www.clinicaltrials.gov.

To learn more about the medical terminology used in this news release, please visit http://stedmansonline.com/.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Warnings and precautions include hemorrhage, infections, cytopenias, atrial fibrillation, second primary malignancies, Tumor Lysis Syndrome and embryo-fetal toxicity.

The most common adverse reactions (≥25%) in patients with B-cell malignancies (MCL, CLL, WM) were thrombocytopenia, neutropenia, diarrhea, anemia, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, bruising, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and rash. For additional important safety information, please see Important Safety Information to the right and the full Prescribing Information at www.imbruvica.com/downloads/Prescribing_Information.pdf.

About Pharmacyclics, An AbbVie Company
Pharmacyclics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), is focused on developing and commercializing innovative small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Pharmacyclics' mission is to develop and commercialize novel therapies intended to improve quality of life, increase duration of life and resolve serious unmet medical needs.

Pharmacyclics markets IMBRUVICA and has three product candidates in clinical development and several preclinical molecules in lead optimization. Pharmacyclics is committed to high standards of ethics, scientific rigor and operational efficiency as it moves each of these programs toward commercialization. To learn more, please visit www.pharmacyclics.com.

About AbbVie
AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. Together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmacyclics, AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information on the company and its people, portfolio and commitments, please visit www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter or view careers on our Facebook or LinkedIn page.

Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project" and similar expressions, among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. AbbVie cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the likelihood that the transaction is consummated, the expected benefits of the transaction, challenges to intellectual property, competition from other products, difficulties inherent in the research and development process, adverse litigation or government action, and changes to laws and regulations applicable to our industry. Additional information about the economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect AbbVie's operations is set forth in Item 1A, "Risk Factors," in AbbVie's 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AbbVie undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.

IMBRUVICA is a registered trademark of Pharmacyclics LLC

¹ IMBRUVICA Prescribing Information, January 2015

² Genetics Home Reference. Isolated growth hormone deficiency. Available at: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/isolated-growth-hormone-deficiency. Accessed October 2015.

SOURCE AbbVie