Johnson & Johnson saw the promising interim data Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. unveiled at a conference in New Zealand a month ago for ARO-HBV, its gene-silencing candidate for hepatitis B, and decided to license the candidate, invest in Arrowhead and collaborate with the biotech on up to three additional novel targets in a deal announced Oct. 4.
J&J Bets Big On Arrowhead’s Early Promise In Hepatitis B
The pharma is paying $250m up front for worldwide rights to Arrowhead’s Phase I/II RNAi candidate. Arrowhead says letting J&J take the lead on HBV enables it to focus on other pipeline programs it can bring to market itself.
