Cravath, Davis Polk Steer J&J’s $14.6 Billion Intra-Cellular Buy

Cravath, Swaine & Moore guided Johnson & Johnson in its $14.6 billion plan to purchase Intra-Cellular Therapies Inc., a company focused on treatments for central nervous systems. Davis Polk & Wardwell steered Intra-Cellular.

The transaction is the largest in biotech in more than a year, following a broader slump in healthcare M&A in 2024.

Cravath’s team is led by partners Robert I. Townsend III, Ting S. Chen and Jin-Kyu Baek on M&A matters; partners J. Leonard Teti II and Andrew T. Davis on tax matters; partner Matthew J. Bobby on executive compensation and benefits matters; partner Sasha Rosenthal-Larrea on intellectual property matters; and partner Matthew Morreale on environmental matters.

Cravath has been a long-time adviser for J&J, which has retained the firm to guide several past transactions. Those include its $2 billion purchase of clinical stage biopharma company Ambrx Biopharma, Inc. in 2024; its $17.3 billion plans to purchase heart pump maker Abiomed Inc. in 2022; and its $6.5 billion acquisition of Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2020. In 2021, Cravath partners guided J&J’s transaction to separate its consumer health business and create a new publicly traded company.

Davis Polk’s team of partners includes Michael Davis and Lee Hochbaum. Veronica Wissel provided executive compensation advice; Jesse Solomon provided antitrust and competition advice; David R. Bauer provided intellectual property advice; and William A. Curran provided tax advice.

Skadden guided Centerview Partners LLC and Jefferies as financial advisors to Intra-Cellular. Its team included M&A partners Graham Robinson and Christopher Barlow.

Intra-Cellular is currently working on a drug for major depressive disorder, which is in late-stage trials.