STAT+: 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.

“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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