J&J’s Janssen in Small-Molecule Drug Pact
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and Novera Therapeutics Inc. have announced a collaboration with Janssen Biotech, LLC, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, to accelerate the development of promising small-molecule drug candidates for hematological cancers. Novera, a new Ontario biotechnology company, will discover and develop therapeutic compounds identified through OICR’s drug discovery program in partnership with University Health Network’s enabling technology and disease area biology and coordinate the collaboration with Janssen under a collaboration, license option, and exclusive license agreement.
Under the agreement, facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Novera will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive various pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercialization success-based milestone payments up to a total of approximately Can$450 million (US$348 million) plus tiered royalties on potential net sales of products. Janssen has been granted an exclusive option to license, for all human uses worldwide, candidate drug(s) that have been identified and will be advanced through the collaboration. Janssen will assume responsibility for subsequent pre-clinical, and commercial development once it exercises its option.
As a translational research institute OICR identifies, funds, and supports oncology innovations with a goal of improving clinical practice. Leveraging the extensive and renowned research community within Ontario, OICR assembles and coordinates the intellectual resources, management and expertise needed to drive anti-cancer discoveries from bench to bedside. Novera was established by FACIT, OICR’s commercialization partner, to advance the therapeutics against molecular targets in difficult-to-treat hematological malignancies.
