AbbVie and Richter collaborate on neuropsychiatric therapies

AbbVie has initiated a collaboration with Gedeon Richter, a pharmaceutical company based in Hungary, to develop novel treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. This agreement aims to discover, co-develop, and license new targets to address these conditions.

The partnership takes advantage of nearly twenty years of successful collaboration on central nervous system projects, which has already resulted in the development of products such as cariprazine (marketed as VRAYLAR/REAGILA) and the investigational drug candidate ABBV-932, designed to treat bipolar depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

VRAYLAR is a prescription medication intended to complement antidepressants in treating adults with major depressive disorder, as well as manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder, and schizophrenia.

Under the new agreement, both companies will share the costs of preclinical and clinical research and development activities. Richter will receive an upfront cash payment of $25 million, with the potential for additional payments tied to development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Additionally, Richter is eligible to receive royalties based on sales.

Jonathon Sedgwick, AbbVie's senior vice-president and global head of discovery research, emphasized the importance of innovation and pursuing novel targets to address the unmet needs of individuals living with neuropsychiatric disorders. He expressed excitement about expanding the longstanding and successful partnership with Richter to help address the complex needs of these patients.

AbbVie will hold commercialization rights worldwide, while Richter retains rights within its traditional markets, which include geographic Europe, Russia, other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, and Vietnam.

Gedeon Richter's CEO, Gábor Orbán, highlighted that this new agreement builds on years of successful partnership, allowing Richter to further support AbbVie’s global ambitions in neuropsychiatry. He also noted that the agreement validates the quality of science behind Richter’s unique discovery platform.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved AbbVie's VYALEV (foscarbidopa and foslevodopa) for the treatment of motor fluctuations in adults with advanced Parkinson’s disease.