M&A News: AbbVie, Biogen & More 

The latest news on mergers and acquisitions featuring AbbVie/Nimble Therapeutics and Biogen/Sage Therapeutics. Highlights below. 

* AbbVie Completes $200-M Acquisition of Nimble Therapeutics  
* Biogen Makes Bid for Sage Therapeutics 


AbbVie Completes $200-M Acquisition of Nimble Therapeutics 
AbbVie has completed its acquisition of Nimble Therapeutics, a Madison, Wisconsin-based bio/pharmaceutical company, for $200 million. The companies announced the deal in December 2024.   

Nimble’s lead asset is an investigational oral peptide IL23R inhibitor in preclinical development for the treatment of psoriasis. The company also has a pipeline of other oral peptide candidates with potential across several autoimmune diseases. AbbVie also acquired Nimble’s peptide synthesis, screening, and optimization platform, which uses proprietary technology for the discovery and optimization of peptide candidates for a range of targets.  

Under the agreement, AbbVie paid $200 million to acquire Nimble, in addition to certain interim funding payments. Nimble’s shareholders remain eligible for a potential payment, subject to the achievement of a development milestone.  

Source: AbbVie 


Biogen Makes Bid for Sage Therapeutics 
Sage Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bio/pharmaceutical company, confirmed in a press statement on January 10, 2025, that the company received from Biogen an unsolicited, nonbinding proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Sage Therapeutics not already owned by Biogen for $7.22 per share. 

“Consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, the Sage Board of Directors will carefully review and evaluate the proposal made by Biogen to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Sage shareholders,” said the company in its statement.  

Founded in 2020, Sage Therapeutics focuses on neuroscience and developing treatments for the modulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, two neurotransmitter systems. The GABA system is the major inhibitory signaling pathway of the brain and central nervous system; NMDA is the major excitatory pathway with both contributing to regulating CNS function, according to information from the company.  

The company’s lead drug is Zurzuvae (zuranolone), a FDA-approved treatment indicated for postpartum depression, in which it is partnered with Biogen, and the company is also advancing a pipeline in brain health. In August 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a Complete Response Letter for the new drug application for zuranolone in the treatment of adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) and at that time, the companies decided not to pursue further development of zuranolone as a treatment for MDD in the US.

Source: Sage Therapeutics