AbbVie has received regulatory clearance to complete its $8.7 billion acquisition of neuroscience biotech Cerevel Therapeutics, the companies said Thursday. The move gives the Chicago-area pharma giant a shot at competing with Bristol Myers Squibb in schizophrenia.
Industry insiders had been closely keeping tabs on the deal’s completion — which the companies projected would happen in “mid-2024” — as the Federal Trade Commission has upped its scrutiny in recent years, taking aim at a few biopharma deals.
The FTC earlier this year had asked the drugmakers for more information on the proposed multibillion-dollar deal. It was the fifth largest biopharma acquisition announced in 2023 and AbbVie’s second largest of last year, behind its $10.1 billion purchase of ADC maker ImmunoGen, which closed earlier this year.
Rob MichaelAbbVie previously said it expected the Cerevel deal to go through without a hitch, and analysts had also projected it would clear the regulatory hurdle. At the time of AbbVie’s second-quarter earnings update on July 25, CEO Rob Michael said the deal could close “as early as” the week of July 29.
It marks the first big move for Michael, who stepped into the top spot on July 1. It was the first changing of the guard for AbbVie’s CEO slot since it split from Abbott more than a decade ago.
The Cerevel consummation could eventually help fill revenue gaps from the megablockbuster autoimmune medicine Humira, and it broadens AbbVie’s presence in neuroscience. Its CNS portfolio already includes a few drugs, like the antipsychotic Vraylar, and the unit’s sales grew 14.7% to $2.16 billion in the second quarter.
But the Cerevel deal gives it access to a wider pipeline of drugs with “multibillion-dollar sales potential,” AbbVie said at the time of the acquisition announcement. The Pfizer spinout is developing late-stage candidates for Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia, and exploring additional areas like Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, epilepsy, panic disorder and dementia-related apathy.
AbbVie and Bristol Myers could compete in schizophrenia. Both drugmakers forged multibillion-dollar acquisitions last December, drumming up interest in an area of drug R&D that has seen the rise of a few new biotech startups in recent years. Bristol’s KarXT could become the first new type of schizophrenia drug in decades if it’s approved this fall, and AbbVie seeks to follow suit with a similar experimental medicine from Cerevel.
Key data from two of Cerevel’s drug candidates are expected later this year. Data on Cerevel’s schizophrenia asset emraclidine, which could compete with Bristol Myers’ KarXT, are expected in the second half. Jefferies analyst Michael Yee wrote in a May 22 note that the drug makes up “90% of the value of the transaction.” Parkinson’s data for tavapadon are also slated for the second half.