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MeiraGTx Signs J&J To Develop Gene Therapies For Rare Retinal Diseases

 
• By Joseph Haas

While it wants to keep other programs for diseases with larger patient populations in house, MeiraGTx believes J&J offers the global reach to expedite its program in inherited retinal diseases, including three clinical candidates.

Ishihara Test. Color Blind Test. - Vector
A test used to diagnose color blindness, part of the symptomology of achromatopsia.

Less than a year after its $80m initial public offering, MeiraGTx Holdings PLCwill get $100m up front with potential for significant earn-outs under a multi-part collaboration with Johnson & Johnson to advance its clinical candidates for inherited retinal diseases (IRD). The deal announced Jan. 31 also entails a research collaboration against new targets in IRD and a manufacturing agreement.

On a same-day investor call, MeiraGTx CEO Alexandria Forbes said her firm entered the IRD space seeing it as a “portfolio strategy” in which it eventually would need a partner for various reasons, including that IRD is a broad set of rare diseases. J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc

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