Janssen and MacroGenics to develop new cancer therapies

Janssen has announced a new collaboration with MacroGenics focusing on a potential treatment for B-cell malignancies.

The global collaboration and license agreement pertains to the product candidate MGD011, which incorporates MacroGenics' proprietary platform for Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting to simultaneously target CD19 and CD3 for the treatment of these malignancies.

Janssen will be responsible for developing MGD011 following regulatory submission, which is planned for 2015. MacroGenics has received a $50 million (32.73 million pounds) upfront licence fee, and could earn up to an additional $575 million in clinical, regulatory and commercialisation milestone payments.

MacroGenics may elect to fund a portion of late-stage clinical development in exchange for a profit share in the US and Canada. Additionally, Johnson and Johnson Innovation will purchase nearly two million MacroGenics shares for $75 million.

Dr Scott Koenig, president and chief executive officer of MacroGenics, said: "Janssen represents the ideal partner for this product candidate, given their track record of successfully developing and commercialising transformative oncology therapies and their experience in the B-cell malignancy area."

This comes after Janssen announced a new drug research collaboration with Sevion Therapeutics last month.