Karuna Therapeutics falls as rival Cerevel snapped up by AbbVie

Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings

07/12/2023 16:15

** Shares of Karuna Therapeutics  KRTX.O  fall 2.9% to
$202.7 in morning trade
    ** Stock set for its biggest one-day pct drop in a month, if
losses hold
    ** AbbVie  ABBV.N  says it will buy Cerevel Therapeutics
 CERE.O  for $8.7 bln in a bid to replace revenue as its
arthritis drug Humira faces competition from cheaper rivals
    ** Both KRTX and CERE are developing treatments for
psychiatric and neurological conditions
    ** Brokerage Stifel says that ABBV chose to buy CERE over
KRTX as its patents seem to be better protected and as data on
CERE's schizophrenia and psychosis therapies is not out, ABBV
can mitigate FTC risk
    ** The market is big enough for multiple players and KRTX
has a 2-year lead, Wells Fargo said
    ** 18 of 20 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 2
"hold"; their median PT is $270
    ** Despite session's loss, stock up 0.6% YTD

 (Reporting by Puyaan Singh)
 ((Puyaan.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))