Janssen’s new subsidiary Aragon spins off business unit

Janssen's newly-acquired subsidiary Aragon Pharmaceuticals has spun off a section of its business as part of the takeover deal finalised earlier this week.

Following Aragon's acquisition by Janssen's parent company Johnson and Johnson, Aragon's selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) programme has been spun into a newly-formed privately-held corporation called Seragon Pharmaceuticals.

Seragon will be responsible for developing ARN-810, a lead candidate SERD inhibitor currently being evaluated in a phase I trial as a potential therapy for metastatic breast cancer.

Johnson and Johnson does not have an ownership stake in Seragon, with the new company to be financed by legacy Aragon investors and led by Richard Heyman, the former chief executive officer of Aragon.

Meanwhile, Aragon's androgen receptor antagonist programme – including its lead androgen receptor signaling inhibitor ARN-509 – has been transferred to Janssen under the terms of the takeover.

Dr Peter Lebowitz, global therapeutic area head for oncology at Janssen Research and Development, said: "The acquisition strengthens our prostate cancer pipeline with a second-generation, potentially best-in-class compound."