diff --git a/swh/loader/package/cpan/loader.py b/swh/loader/package/cpan/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/cpan/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/cpan/loader.py
@@ -166,8 +166,6 @@
         version: str = str(intrinsic_metadata["version"])
         assert version == p_info.version
 
-        description = intrinsic_metadata["abstract"]
-
         # author data from http endpoint are less complete than from META
         if "author" in intrinsic_metadata:
             author_data = intrinsic_metadata["author"]
@@ -180,9 +178,7 @@
             author = p_info.author
 
         message = (
-            f"Synthetic release for Perl source package {name} "
-            f"version {version}\n\n"
-            f"{description}\n"
+            f"Synthetic release for Perl source package {name} version {version}\n"
         )
 
         return Release(
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/cpan/tests/test_cpan.py b/swh/loader/package/cpan/tests/test_cpan.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/cpan/tests/test_cpan.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/cpan/tests/test_cpan.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     assert load_status["status"] == "eventful"
     assert load_status["snapshot_id"] is not None
 
-    expected_snapshot_id = "2b1f606033ef5ccfed78aeb94baf5a8b901b2306"
+    expected_snapshot_id = "848ee8d69d33481c88ab81f6794f6504190f011f"
 
     assert expected_snapshot_id == load_status["snapshot_id"]
 
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@
         id=hash_to_bytes(load_status["snapshot_id"]),
         branches={
             b"releases/0.01": SnapshotBranch(
-                target=hash_to_bytes("3b31ce005c364de6c1b8caca8bf12487d5debf38"),
+                target=hash_to_bytes("e73aced4cc3d56b32a328d3248b25b052f029df4"),
                 target_type=TargetType.RELEASE,
             ),
             b"releases/0.05": SnapshotBranch(
-                target=hash_to_bytes("2901106d99de31f71380b6c3b5e92799ce3a1a5e"),
+                target=hash_to_bytes("07382fd255ec0fc293b92aeb7e68b3fe31c174f9"),
                 target_type=TargetType.RELEASE,
             ),
             b"HEAD": SnapshotBranch(
@@ -83,11 +83,11 @@
     } == stats
 
     assert swh_storage.release_get(
-        [hash_to_bytes("2901106d99de31f71380b6c3b5e92799ce3a1a5e")]
+        [hash_to_bytes("07382fd255ec0fc293b92aeb7e68b3fe31c174f9")]
     )[0] == Release(
         name=b"0.05",
         message=b"Synthetic release for Perl source package Internals-CountObjects"
-        b" version 0.05\n\nReport all allocated perl objects\n",
+        b" version 0.05\n",
         target=hash_to_bytes("af3f6a43eaf4b26dbcadb1101e8d81db6d6151e0"),
         target_type=ObjectType.DIRECTORY,
         synthetic=True,
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
             email=b"jjore@cpan.org",
         ),
         date=TimestampWithTimezone.from_iso8601("2011-06-11T05:23:31+00:00"),
-        id=hash_to_bytes("2901106d99de31f71380b6c3b5e92799ce3a1a5e"),
+        id=hash_to_bytes("07382fd255ec0fc293b92aeb7e68b3fe31c174f9"),
     )
 
     assert_last_visit_matches(