• by Les Luchter , March 20, 2023

Abbvie has teamed with Redglass Pictures for “Under My Skin: Untold Stories of Life with Eczema,” a short documentary which premiered last week at South by Southwest, is now available on YouTube, and come April 1, can also be seen on The Roku Channel, a free, ad-supported streaming service.

The 13-minute film, shot in Baltimore, Jacksonville and Syracuse, explores the physical and emotional states of three eczema sufferers.

With sometimes graphic images of what Abbvie calls the “cracked, scaly and oozing skin” of eczema patients, the film presents three case histories of adults who've suffered since childhood (a typical complaint: “I’d fall asleep in school because I was up all night scratching”) and finally get treatment.

But not particularly from Abbvie, whose name is mentioned only in a “Presented By” line at the very end of the film.

Right before that, though, viewers are advised to visit Abbvie-run website eczemahq.com “for more information on eczema.”

Needless to say, Abbvie does have a drug to fight eczema: the much-advertised Rinvoq. first sold as an arthritis drug in 2019 and approved for use against eczema (aka atopic dermatitis) a year ago.

Also on the skin scene, Abbvie markets Skyrizi, launched in 2019 to treat plaque psoriasis.

Both drugs are playing a key role for Abbie as it seeks to counter the sting of losing exclusivity on its top drug, the anti-inflammatory Humira.

Speaking on an earnings call last month, Abbvie chairman and chief executive officer Rick Gonzalez said that Skyrizi and Rinvoq together generated nearly $7.7 billion of combined sales in 2022.

The company’s 2023 guidance estimates that those two drugs will generate $11.2 billion in 2023, or year-over-year growth of 45%.

“We anticipate these two products will collectively exceed the peak revenues achieved by Humira by 2027, with significant growth expected through the end of the decade,” Gonzalez added.

Jeff Stewart, Abbvie’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, told the analysts that the global dermatology community sees Rinvoq as especially important in long-term chronic therapy to control eczema skln clearance and itch relief.