HQ Team
December 7, 2023: AbbVie Inc., will buy Cerevel Therapeutics, developing drugs for neuroscience diseases, for $8.7 billion in a bid to boost the North Chicago, Illinois-based company’s presence in the psychiatric and neurological disorder segment.
AbbVie will acquire all outstanding shares of Cerevel for $45.00 per share in cash. The transaction values Cerevel at a total equity value of approximately $8.7 billion and is expected to close by the middle of 2024.
The proposed transaction is expected to be accretive to adjusted diluted earnings per share beginning in 2030, according to an AbbVie statement.
The expansion into the neurological segment is happening at a time when global revenue for AbbeVie’s Humira, a blockbuster drug used for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and plaque psoriasis, clocked $3.55 billion, down 36.2% from the prior year. The drug was the world’s most-sold medicine.
Humira revenue falls
In the US, Humira’s net revenues were $3.020 billion, a decrease of 39.1%. Internationally, Humira’s net revenues were $527 million, a decrease of 12.6% on a reported basis, or 12.2%. The arrival of biosimilars has dented AbbeVie’s market share.
“Our existing neuroscience portfolio and our combined pipeline with Cerevel represents a significant growth opportunity well into the next decade,” said Richard A. Gonzalez, chairman and chief executive officer, of AbbVie.
“AbbVie will leverage its deep commercial capabilities, international infrastructure, and regulatory and clinical expertise to deliver substantial shareholder value with multibillion-dollar sales potential across Cerevel’s portfolio of assets.”
The Cerevel acquisition comes close to the heels of AbbVie Inc., plans to buy ImmunoGen, Inc., for $10.1 billion. Immunogen operates in therapeutic areas such as immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care.
Cerevel pipeline
Cerevel Therapeutics has a diversified pipeline comprised of five clinical-stage investigational therapies and several preclinical compounds with the potential to treat a range of neuroscience diseases, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease psychosis, epilepsy, panic disorder, and Parkinson’s disease. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Schizophrenia impacts more than five million people in the G7 nations —the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan — and presents a significant opportunity for treatment innovation for new and better-tolerated therapies, according to the statement.
In a Phase 1b study, Cerevel’s late-stage asset, emraclidine, has shown promising efficacy and safety in schizophrenia and is currently completing two Phase 2 trials that were designed to be registration-enabling.
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease
Emraclidine has the potential for dementia-related psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. More than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s. The incidence of Parkinson’s disease increases with age, but an estimated four per cent of people with the disease are diagnosed before the age of 50.
One person in the world develops dementia every three seconds. There are over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2020. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.
