High-value dealmaking strengthens big pharma’s CNS ambitions

Diseases of the central nervous system continue to catalyze dealmaking as companies search for new therapies to tackle some major unmet medical needs.

(August 22, 2022) | By Raveena Bhambra.

Several high-value licensing deals or acquisitions made in 2022 in the central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic area involve large pharma companies, suggesting a resurgence of interest in the field among such companies. The deals (see deal snapshots) involve a range of approaches for CNS diseases, including small-molecule antagonists of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor for migraines, small-molecule modulators of the synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A) for Alzheimer’s disease and major depressive disorder, and gene therapies based on adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors.

Pfizer led the high-value dealmaking with its $11.6-billion acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals and its potential blockbuster migraine therapy Nurtec (rimegepant) in May 2022. Rimegepant, an oral small-molecule CGRP antagonist, has been approved in the US for both the acute treatment of migraine and the preventative treatment of episodic migraine and has also been approved in the EU under the name Vydura.