On Monday, Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) agreed to acquire Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc. ( ITCI ) for $132.00 per share in cash for a total equity value of approximately $14.6 billion.

Intra-Cellular Therapies ( ITCI ) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Also Read: Intra-Cellular Therapies’ Treatment Reduces Schizophrenia Relapse Risk 63%

With this agreement, Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) adds Intra-Cellular Therapies’ Caplyta (lumateperone), a once-daily oral therapy approved to treat adults with schizophrenia, as well as depressive episodes associated with bipolar I or II disorder (bipolar depression), as a monotherapy and adjunctive therapy with lithium or valproate.

The acquisition also includes ITI-1284, a promising Phase 2 compound being studied in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and Alzheimer’s disease-related psychosis and agitation, as well as a clinical-stage pipeline that further complements and strengthens Johnson & Johnson’s current areas of focus.

In December 2024, Intra-Cellular Therapies ( ITCI ) submitted a marketing application to the FDA for Caplyta as an adjunctive treatment for adults with major depressive disorder (MDD).

In two global Phase 3 studies, Caplyta, as an adjunctive treatment to antidepressants, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in depressive symptoms, as measured by both clinician-rated and patient-reported outcomes.

If approved, Caplyta has the potential to be the first treatment approved for MDD and depressive symptoms associated with bipolar I and II in more than 15 years.

Additional Phase 3 trials are underway with Caplyta in bipolar I disorder with manic episodes or manic episodes with mixed features (bipolar mania).

Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) expects to fund the transaction through cash on hand and debt.

In 204, Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co ( BMY ) added an oral medication for schizophrenia via Karuna Therapeutics deal for $330 per share in cash for a total equity value of $14 billion.

In November, AbbVie Inc ( ABBV ) released data from its two Phase 2 EMPOWER trials of emraclidine for schizophrenia.

The patients experienced an acute exacerbation of psychotic symptoms and did not meet their primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant improvement in the change from baseline in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score compared to the placebo group at week 6.

AbbVie ( ABBV ) added emraclidine via the approximately $8.7 billion acquisition of Cerevel Therapeutics.

Price Action: JNJ stock is up 0.86% at $143.28, and ITCI stock is up 34.5% at $127.62 at the last check on Monday.

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