AbbVie has written the next chapter in its epic quest to treat psychiatric disorders, agreeing to buy a psychedelic drug candidate from Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals for up to $1.2 billion.
Bloomberg reported AbbVie was in talks about buying Gilgamesh—a Fierce 15 2024 winner—for around $1 billion last month. The final deal is a little different than those early reports suggested. Rather than buy all of Gilgamesh, AbbVie has agreed to acquire its bretisilocin program and let the biotech spin off other assets to create a new entity.
AbbVie will pay up to $1.2 billion in upfront and development milestones for bretisilocin. The companies are yet to disclose the split between upfront and milestone payments. No regulatory or commercial milestones nor royalties are mentioned in the press release about the deal.
The agreement will give AbbVie control of an asset that recently achieved a 94% remission rate in a phase 2 major depressive disorder (MDD) trial. Forty patients received two doses, about two weeks apart, and were evaluated almost one month after the first dose.
Gilgamesh designed bretisilocin, also known as GM-2505, to act on the 5-HT2A receptor that is central to the psychedelic response to drugs such as LSD and psilocybin. One key advantage is bretisilocin has a shorter half-life than traditional psychedelics. The half-life could support the use of bretisilocin in the two-hour in-clinic framework that Johnson & Johnson established for its ketamine drug Spravato.
At AbbVie, bretisilocin will slot into a well-established neuroscience unit. AbbVie has deals with Gedeon Richter, the source of the company’s antipsychotic blockbuster Vraylar, and is trying to generate a return from its $8.7 billion bet on Cerevel Therapeutics despite a phase 2 flop.
For Gilgamesh, the deal provides Big Pharma support for bretisilocin and funding for other programs. The new entity, Gilgamesh Pharma, will house the biotech’s employees, other programs and existing pact with AbbVie. The other R&D programs include an oral NMDA receptor antagonist, an ibogaine analog and an M1/M4 agonist program.
Citi analysts dubbed the deal an "interesting play" by AbbVie, citing bretisilocin's potential competitive clinical profile but also the risky nature of MDD drug development.
Editor's note: This article was updated at 11:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 25 to include analyst insight.