AbbVie (ABBV) has announced 34 students living with chronic inflammatory conditions will receive its 2026 Immunology Scholarship as the programme marks its tenth year.
Recipients span three key therapeutic areas, including dermatology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology, reflecting the broad reach of inflammatory disease across the population.
Over the past decade, AbbVie has invested more than $6 million through the scholarship initiative, supporting students pursuing higher education across the United States.
The programme has helped more than 350 students since its launch, making it one of the more substantial patient-focused educational support efforts in the pharmaceutical sector.
Last year marked a significant evolution for the scholarship, with AbbVie introducing larger, renewable awards worth up to $20,000 per individual student.
The move to renewable awards is designed to extend the programme’s impact beyond a single academic year, giving recipients a more sustained financial foundation.
Students may renew their scholarship for up to three additional years, or until they complete a bachelor’s or graduate degree, whichever comes first.
Continued eligibility is required for renewal, ensuring the programme remains focused on students who demonstrate ongoing commitment to their academic goals.
AbbVie has framed the scholarship around a broader mission, describing its passion for patient care as extending “beyond medicine by helping students pursue a degree — and a life — not defined by their disease.”
Notably, applicants are not required to have taken, currently take, or intend to take any AbbVie medicine or product, and treatment history plays no role in the selection process.
The decision to remove treatment history from consideration broadens the pool of eligible applicants significantly, separating financial support from commercial interest.
For a pharmaceutical company whose flagship immunology treatments generate billions in annual revenue, the scholarship represents a relatively modest but symbolically meaningful community investment.
AbbVie shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ABBV, and the company continues to position its patient support programmes as central to its public identity.