After Abbvie (ABBV) announced an agreement to acquire Allergan (AGN) for $120 per share of cash and a remaining $68 in AbbVie shares, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said he views the deal as a good alternative for Allergan versus the current share price, but he is not convinced its a better long term alternative given the eventual biosimilar threat to Abbvie's blockbuster drug Humira. With that said, Maris tells investors that "deals at such premiums are rarely killed because of a bad strategic fit or longer -term value outlook in the absence of other bidders." Though he would not completely rule out an activist investor disrupting the deal, he thinks it is unlikely given there has been a strategic review of the company for some time. Maris, who said he thinks the deal could go through, keeps an Outperform rating on Allergan shares.

AbbVie announced positive top-line results from SELECT-GCA, a Phase 3, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, showing upadacitinib in combination with a 26-week steroid taper regimen achieved its primary endpoint of sustained remissiona from week 12 through week 52 in adults with giant cell arteritis. In this study, 46% of patients receiving upadacitinib 15 mg in combination with a 26-week steroid taper regimen achieved sustained remission compared to 29 percent of patients receiving placebo in combination with a 52-week steroid taper regimen. Key secondary endpoints were also met, including a higher percentage of patients receiving upadacitinib 15 mg in combination with a 26-week steroid taper regimen achieved sustained complete remissionb from week 12 through week 52 compared to patients receiving placebo in combination with a 52-week steroid taper regimen. A lower percentage of patients experienced at least one disease flare through week 52 in the upadacitinib 15 mg group versus the placebo group. The study results also showed that upadacitinib 7.5 mg did not meet the primary or any of the secondary endpoints.