AbbVie sees Cerevel’s antipsychotic as ‘best-in-class’ driver of $8.7B deal

AbbVie believes antipsychotic therapy emraclidine can be a viable competitor with Karuna’s registrational asset for schizophrenia, making the M4 agonist the most substantial value component in its $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel.

In a presentation early Thursday, AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) management described emraclidine as a potential best-in-class asset and a multi-billion-dollar peak sales opportunity. President and COO Robert Michael called it the “most promising” asset in the pipeline of Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CERE), driving the takeout announced late Wednesday...