Both AbbVie stock (NYSE:ABBV) and Moderna stock (NASDAQ:MRNA) are pharma stocks with the potential to quadruple your money, but they operate on quite different timetables.
AbbVie is a well-established pharmaceutical corporation that pays consistent dividends.
Moderna currently sells just one medicine, but its research pipeline has the potential to generate more blockbuster vaccines soon.
Consider AbbVie stock (NYSE:ABBV) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA). They’re both commercial-stage drugmakers, but their prospective growth paths couldn’t be more different.
AbbVie Stock: The next steps for AbbVie Stock
Abbott Laboratories broke away from AbbVie in 2013 to protect the parent firm from an imminent loss of exclusivity calamity. When biosimilar competition became available in the EU, international sales of AbbVie’s primary medicine, an anti-inflammation injectable called Humira, plummeted.
Humira sales in the United States increased to $8.7 billion in the first half of 2022, while overseas sales fell to $1.4 billion. Multiple biosimilar copies of Humira will be launched in the United States next year, so the company’s primary medicine will generate several billion fewer dollars in sales in the short future.
Because AbbVie has successfully spent a part of Humira’s income on other therapies with fast-expanding sales, patient investors might yet see a tenfold return. Both Rinvoq for arthritis and Skyrizi for psoriasis were released in 2019 and are now blockbuster medications, with combined annual sales of $7.4 billion. According to management, the combined revenues of Rinvoq and Skyrizi are expected to top $15 billion in 2025.
Put it all together, and you’re looking at a tenfold gain in well over a decade.
Moderna Stock: Moderna’s several routes ahead
While AbbVie sells hundreds of medications, Moderna just sells one. Spikevax, Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, is a mega-blockbuster, with sales of $10.5 billion in the first half of 2022.
Spikevax sales fell in the second quarter because practically everyone who wanted a vaccination injection had one before. In August, the FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization to a novel booster that targets the omicron variant. Sales might stabilize in the second half of 2022 as one of only two boosters that target predominant strains of the virus responsible for COVID-19.
From now on, we may expect Moderna to provide new boosters that address prevalent strains of the virus responsible for COVID-19 on a regular basis, similar to how other vaccine producers update their yearly flu injections. Potential new medicines might truly drive growth with fairly consistent cash flows from its COVID-19 vaccine.
A better purchase right now?
Moderna is a mid-sized pharmaceutical firm with a market valuation of roughly $54 billion at current pricing. That is less than one-fourth of AbbVie’s current market value. Moderna stock (NASDAQ:MRNA) has a significantly higher probability of doubling before AbbVie stock (NYSE:ABBV) simply because of its lower starting position.
While Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) is more likely to quadruple your money over the next several years, AbbVie stock (NYSE:ABBV) has a greater chance of returning a profit. The business has already introduced medications that may compensate for Humira’s imminent losses. Furthermore, you will continue to receive quarterly dividend payments from AbbVie regardless of what happens to its research pipeline.
Featured Image – Megapixl © Ipopba
Author Okoro Chinedu 
