AbbVie reported on October 19 that ABBV-466, its dual targeting combination of the IL-23 inhibitor Skyrizi (risankizumab) and trosunilimab, an investigational anti alpha4beta7 integrin antibody, beat both of its components in the Phase 2a TARGET-CD study in moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. The open label platform study randomised 300 patients equally to the combination, Skyrizi alone or trosunilimab alone for 24 weeks, and was presented as a late breaker at United European Gastroenterology Week in Barcelona.
Endoscopic remission, the absence of visible inflammation on colonoscopy, was the primary endpoint. At week 12, 30.2 percent of combination patients reached it, against 21.3 percent on Skyrizi and 18.0 percent on trosunilimab. By week 24 the gap had widened: 40.5 percent on the combination against 22.4 percent and 20.0 percent. Gene expression analyses showed signs of intestinal tissue repair and gut barrier restoration by week 12 in the combination arm. Serious adverse events ran slightly higher on the combination, at 10.4 percent, against 9.6 percent on Skyrizi and 9.0 percent on trosunilimab.
The population makes the result harder to dismiss. Three in four patients had failed at least one advanced therapy and a quarter had failed three or more, a refractory group in which remission rates usually compress. The strategic read is lifecycle management at scale: Skyrizi generated 5.5 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2026 and more than 10 billion in the first half, and AbbVie is developing the drug that would extend the franchise rather than waiting for a rival to obsolete it. Trosunilimab also gives AbbVie its own version of the alpha4beta7 mechanism behind Takeda’s Entyvio, inside a single combination product. BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets analysts both called the readout a validation of AbbVie’s next generation combination strategy in inflammatory bowel disease.
The limits are design limits. TARGET-CD is open label, has no placebo arm, and AbbVie reported no statistical testing in the release, so the widening week 24 gap is a trajectory, not a proven difference. A controlled Phase 3 is where the claim gets tested.