India's Advinus Therapeutics announced a drug discovery and development collaboration with Johnson & Johnson's Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
In the deal, Advinus will be responsible for drug discovery and early clinical development--until the completion of Phase IIa studies--while OMPJI will have an option to advance the drug candidates into late stage clinical trials and will be responsible for worldwide commercialization of the molecules. Advinus will receive an upfront payment and could receive milestone payments of up to $247 million upon successful development of two targets. Advinus is also eligible for royalties on the sales of any drug products resulting from the collaboration.
"The collaboration provides a great opportunity to synergize the talent of Indian drug discovery and development scientists at Advinus with the scientific, clinical development and commercial strengths of a company like OMJPI for bringing new medicines to market with speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness," said Dr. Kasim Mookhtiar, CSO of Advinus. "It is a further validation of the growing capabilities of Indian pharmaceutical researchers and Advinus' commitment to bring new medicines to market."
- check out Advinus' release