Mersana Therapeutics Inc. has signed a potential billion-dollar agreement with Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Biotech Inc. to research and develop antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for three cancer targets. Janssen will pay $40 million up front as well as more than $1 billion in potential milestone payments in a big day for ADCs, which saw Mersana’s other development partner, Synaffix BV, announce a tie-up with Macrogenics, Inc. in a deal worth up to $586 million.
Pharmaceutical companies in China will cut the prices for more than five dozen drugs by an average of 61.7% to get them on the latest version of the country’s National Drug Reimbursement List. The National Healthcare Security Administration released the new list on Dec. 3, 2021. The new list includes 74 new drugs, the vast majority of which are branded products without generic versions in China. Only seven of the new drugs on the list have generic versions.
With only three bispecific antibodies on the market, potential for the technology remains largely untapped. Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Biotech Inc. is trying to change that. In a new deal with U.K.-based F-star Therapeutics Inc., it’s seeking develop a new generation of bispecifics for undisclosed targets.
The FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee unanimously agreed to recommend a booster dose of Janssen Biotech Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine for those age 18 years and older at least two months following the first dose. In the end, the vote swung on numbers from Janssen showing a booster significantly improved efficacy among study participants. Janssen’s data leaped to 94% protection after a booster dose, up from 70% efficacy following the first dose. That higher efficacy rate nearly matches that of the mRNA vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE.
Xencor Inc. and Janssen Biotech Inc., already partners on the development of bispecific antibodies against CD28 for prostate cancer, have reached a second agreement licensing to Janssen exclusive development and commercialization rights to Xencor's phase I bispecific antibody, plamotamab, for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, both as a monotherapy and in combination regimens.
Fresh data from Johnson & Johnson show COVID-19 protection dramatically increased with a booster shot of its single-dose vaccine, adding momentum to the U.S. drive for boosters.
Theravance Biopharma Inc.’s phase IIb fizzle with izencitinib in ulcerative colitis (UC) put a dent in shares, as Wall Street mulled the ongoing phase II study in Crohn’s disease (CD) as well as prospects regarding the deal with Johnson & Johnson.
LONDON – Lava Therapeutics BV has raised $83 million in a series C round, enabling it to begin clinical trials of its bispecific gamma-delta T-cell engager technology, in both a hematologic and a solid tumor indication in 2021.
Fate Therapeutics Inc. inked a multiyear, global collaboration worth up to $3 billion with Janssen Biotech Inc., which calls for the latter to contribute antigen binding domains for up to four tumor-associated targets.
LONDON – Janssen Biotech Inc. is buying Xbiotech Inc.’s interleukin-1a (IL-1a) inhibitor bermekimab for $750 million up front and will pay a further $600 million in potential milestones as the product advances in development for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and the chronic immune-mediated skin disease, hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
