AbbVie to expand neuroscience pipeline with $8.7 billion buy of Cerevel

7 December 2023

Shares of Cerevel Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CERE) shot up almost 16% to $42.75 in pre-market trading this morning, after it was revealed late yesterday it had received a takeover offer from US pharma major AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV).

Cerevel’s attraction to AbbVie is its robust neuroscience pipeline of multiple clinical-stage and preclinical candidates with potential across several diseases including schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease (PD), and mood disorders, as AbbVie looks to expand its portfolio, as its biggest ever selling drug Humira (adalimumab) now faces competition from biosimilars.

Just a week ago, AbbVie committed $10.1 billion to acquire ImmunoGen (Nasdaq: IMGN), to expand its oncology assets, and in October closed a much more modest upfront $110 million deal for Mitokinin.

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