AbbVie’s Surprise Schizophrenia Flop, AstraZeneca’s China Drama, Hope in Huntington’s, More

Possibly the biggest news this week comes from the schizophrenia space, where AbbVie’s emraclidine failed two mid-stage trials. Acquired by AbbVie in its $8.7 billion Cerevel Therapeutics buy, this result is in stark contrast to that of Bristol Myers Squibb’s $14 billion acquisition of Karuna Therapeutics, which yielded Cobenfy—the first novel schizophrenia drug approved in 35 years. Also having a tough month is AstraZeneca, which despite reporting strong Q3 sales Tuesday has been dealing with drama at its China headquarters as a top executive there is being investigated for alleged medical insurance fraud. Meanwhile, Bayer had less good fortune in Q3 as CEO Bill Anderson acknowledged that the company’s earnings were “not pretty.” And while much of the attention during earnings season focuses on Big Pharma, several biotech companies, including Nkarta, Intellia and Cassava Sciences, also announced their earnings last week. As we head into the holiday season, some employees at Sana Biotechnology and genetic testing firm 23andMe aren’t feeling very fesitve as those companies announced layoffs. Finally, BioSpace takes a deep dive into one of the most intractable neurodegenerative diseases, Huntington’s, where the first disease-modifying drug just might be on the horizon.