JPMorgan sees AbbVie off about 10%, Bristol up 10%-15% on emraclidine news

JPMorgan notes that AbbVie (ABBV) announced that its two Phase 2 EMPOWER trials evaluating emraclidine in schizophrenia did not meet their primary endpoint of showing a statistically significant reduction in the PANSS total score versus placebo, calling this is “a very surprising outcome” in light of strong Phase 1b data. The firm expects AbbVie shares to trade off by about 10% on the news, which it notes would be “well above” what AbbVie paid for Cereval, but adds that “the Street had viewed emraclidine as an exciting asset for the company.” Meanwhile, the firm expects Bristol Myers (BMY) shares to be up 10%-15% with Cobenfy now alone in the space for the foreseeable future. The firm has Overweight ratings on both stocks.