Friends Fiduciary Seeks Shareholder Support For Its Anticompetitive Practices Proposal at AbbVie

Friends Fiduciary actively engages companies in which we’re invested as a continuing witness to our faith. This proxy season we filed a shareholder proposal at AbbVie on the company’s use of anticompetitive practices which result in significantly higher drug prices that are burdensome for everyday consumers. In a letter to shareholders, FFC explains our concerns around AbbVie’s focus on using patent protections to delay the introduction of generic or biosimilar drug competition. This has led to overdependence on the revenue generated by two of its drugs, Imbruvica and Humira. As long-term investors we would rather the company focus on the development of new and viable drug pipelines. We believe a strong new drug development program will lead to higher and more sustainable long-term shareholder value.

The institutional proxy service, ISS, recommends support for the proposal. Here is their analysis.