AbbVie ‘pain’ is Bristol Myers ‘gain’ after emraclidine fails, says Truist

Truist analyst Srikripa Devarakonda notes that AbbVie (ABBV) announced negative trial results for emraclidine in dual Phase 2 schizophrenia trials, which the firm sees as a negative for AbbVie and a positive for Bristol Myers (BMY), whose schizophrenia drug Cobenfy was approved this past September and now is poised to have less commercial competition. Both AbbVie’s emraclidine and Bristol’s Cobenfy were acquired from acquisitions Cereval and Karuna, respectively, notes the analyst, who expects AbbVie shares to be weak after the company announced its two Phase 2 trials – EMPOWER-1 and -2 – evaluating emraclidine in schizophrenia did not meet their primary endpoint versus placebo. The firm has Buy ratings on both stocks.