AbbVie Acquires Local Biotechs Immunogen and Cerevel

Less than a week after announcing its purchase of Waltham-based Immunogen for $10 billion plus – in one of the largest acquisitions of a Massachusetts company in 2023 – Abbvie has made another move, this time acquiring Cerevel Therapeutics of Cambridge for $8.7 billion. The Immunogen deal includes the company’s flagship cancer therapy Elahere, a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved for a form of ovarian cancer.

As a fast-growing solid tumor therapy, Elahere provides AbbVie with a potential multi-billion-dollar on-market medicine with expansion opportunities in earlier lines of therapy and larger segments of the ovarian cancer market. Additionally, ImmunoGen’s follow-on pipeline of promising next-generation ADCs further complements AbbVie’s ADC platform and existing programs.

“The acquisition of ImmunoGen demonstrates our commitment to deliver on our long-term growth strategy and enables AbbVie to further diversify our oncology pipeline across solid tumors and hematologic malignancies,” said Richard Gonzalez, chairman and chief executive officer, AbbVie. “Together, AbbVie and ImmunoGen have the potential to transform the standard of care for people living with cancer.”
In the Cerevel deal, AbbVie acquires the company’s neuroscience pipeline of multiple clinical-stage and preclinical candidates with potential across several diseases including schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, mood disorders and dementia-related psychoses in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Echoing his comments regarding the Immunogen move, Gonzalez said, “Our existing neuroscience portfolio and our combined pipeline with Cerevel represents a significant growth opportunity well into the next decade. 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.”

Both acquisitions are expected to close in the middle of 2024, subject to Cerevel and Immunogen shareholder approval, regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions. (Source: AbbVie Website, 20 November 20 & 06 December, 2023)