Janssen and Isis to develop new gastrointestinal disease therapies

Janssen has announced a new global collaboration with Isis Pharmaceuticals, focusing on the development of antisense drugs to treat autoimmune disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

The partnership brings together the capabilities of Isis' RNA-targeted technology platform and Janssen's expertise in autoimmune disorders and therapeutic formulation to discover and develop drugs that can be locally administered to treat these conditions.

Covering three programmes, the agreement    will see Isis receive $35 million (23.12 million pounds) in upfront payments, plus up to around $800 million in development, regulatory and sales milestone-based payments and license fees, plus tiered royalties.

Janssen has the option to license a drug from each of the programmes once a development candidate is identified. If it does so, it will assume global development, regulatory and commercialisation responsibilities.

Lynne Parshall, chief operating officer at Isis Pharmaceuticals, said: "This collaboration broadens the utility of our drug discovery technology to new targets in the gastrointestinal tract and expands the administration of antisense drugs to local delivery, including oral delivery, to the gut."

Janssen has committed to a number of new partnerships in the last few weeks, including alliances with Vectura, MacroGenics and Sevion Therapeutics.