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AbbVie records an estimated $4billion in impairment charges after failure of cancer drug Rova-T

pharmafile | January 8, 2019 | News story | Manufacturing and Production AbbVie, M&A, MA, Stemcentrx, acquisition, rova-t 

US firm AbbVie has said that it will record an estimated $4 billion in impairment charges related to the abandonment of the company’s once much anticipated investigational cancer treatment Rova-T.

Having purchased the rights to Rova-T through its high profile acquisition of Stemcentrx, AbbVie announced in December that it would ‘stop enrolment’ into Phase 3 trials for the second-line therapy for advanced small-cell lung cancer.

The halting of clinical trials came after the data-monitoring committee found thatpatients taking Rova-T had worse survival rates than patients in the control arm.

The move came as a major setback for the American firm proving a major hindrance to AbbVie’s attempts to enter the lucrative solid tumour market.  The additional $4 billion write off comes in addition to the $5.8 billion paid for the acquisition of Stemcentrx in 2016.

AbbVie said in an SEC filing that “The estimated net impact of this impairment and the related adjustment to contingent consideration liabilities is approximately $4 billion.”

The company added that it “continues to evaluate information with respect to the Stemcentrx-related clinical development programs and will monitor the remaining $1 billion of intangible assets for further impairment.”

Louis Goss

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