AbbVie to focus on smaller deals after buying spree

(Reuters) -U.S. drugmaker AbbVie said on Thursday it intends to focus on smaller deals to support its growth through the next decade, after it struck two multibillion dollar deals in the past week to acquire Cerevel Therapeutics and ImmunoGen.

"I would not anticipate similar sized transactions for the foreseeable future," said AbbVie's Chief Operating Officer Robert Michael on a conference call, referring to the company's $8.7 billion buyout of Cerevel Therapeutics announced on Wednesday.

AbbVie said it expects to return to "robust growth" in 2025, after its recent buying spree.

"With additions of Cerevel and ImmunoGen, AbbVie is in a stronger position to deliver sustainable long-term performance in the 2030s and beyond timeframe," said the company's Chairman and CEO Richard Gonzalez.

Some Wall Street analysts raised concerns that Cerevel's treatments under development might overlap with AbbVie's products, presenting a potential risk for the deal to get approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Gonzalez said AbbVie has "confidence" the deal will get through the FTC.

AbbVie's Vraylar is approved for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. The U.S. drugmaker also has its Parkinson's disease treatment Duodopa in the market and another candidate ABBV-951 in development.

"I think the schizophrenia overlap may warrant some additional scrutiny. However, it is a pretty fragmented kind of space," said BMO Capital analyst Evan Seigerman.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)