Schizophrenia drug AbbVie picked up in $9 billion acquisition fails in key trials

AbbVie said Monday that its experimental treatment for schizophrenia failed to significantly help patients in two trials, a blow to the company, which got the drug through its recent $9 billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics.

In Phase 2 studies, patients on different doses of the drug, called emraclidine, did not experience significant improvements on a test called the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) compared with the placebo group.

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“While we are disappointed with the results, we are continuing to analyze the data to determine next steps,” Roopal Thakkar, AbbVie’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement.

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