AbbVie to Acquire Gilgamesh’s Bretisilocin for Up to $1.2B

AbbVie has today announced that it is set to acquire Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals’ lead candidate, GM-2505 (aka bretisilocin, a serotonergic psychedelic), which is under development for major depressive disorder (MDD).

Under the terms of the deal, the large pharmaceutical company will acquire the bretisilocin program for up to $1.2 billion, including an upfront payment and development milestones, though the split is not publicly known.

Gilgamesh will also spin out a new entity, ‘Gilgamesh Pharma Inc.’, which will retain its employees and other programs, like its oral NMDAR antagonist (GM-1020), ‘safer’ ibogaine analog (GM-3009), its M1/M4 agonist program, and other collaborative work with AbbVie. The option-to-license agreement with AbbVie will also be transferred to the spinout.

Here, we take a closer look at the acquisition, what it might tell us about big pharma’s interest in the field, and what it might mean for the broader crop of psychedelic drug developers…