The failure of Cerevel's emraclidine in schizophrenia will cost AbbVie an impairment charge of about $3.5 billion, the pharma said in a Jan. 10 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The remaining Cerevel programs are worth about $3.6 billion, AbbVie said, and the company “continues to evaluate information with respect to the Cerevel-related clinical development programs.”
AbbVie tested the drug, emraclidine, as a once-daily, oral monotherapy in adults with schizophrenia experiencing an acute exacerbation of psychotic symptoms. The drug missed the primary endpoints of two phase 2 trials, showing no difference from the placebo in the positive and negative syndrome scale total score, an industry measure of schizophrenia symptoms, the company announced in November.
AbbVie acquired Cerevel in December 2023 for a hefty $8.7 billion. Emraclidine was the shining gem of Cerevel’s pipeline before its phase 2 flops. The drug is also being studied in Alzheimer’s disease. AbbVie scrapped a different Alzheimer’s asset in July 2024, just before the Cerevel deal closed.
Another Cerevel asset, tavapadon, has fared better for AbbVie; the drug hit its primary endpoint in a phase 3 Parkinson’s trial and has soared in subsequent analyses, results that AbbVie Chief Scientific Officer Roopal Thakkar, M.D., said “exceeded our initial thinking.” The company plans to submit an approval request with the FDA for tavapadon this year.