Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic has now announced the extension of its collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of US life sciences company Johnson & Johnson.
The announcement came hard on the heels of positive early-phase data from Johnson & Johnson’s own “mosaic” HIV vaccine. In a phase 1/2a trial dubbed Approach, the vaccine triggered HIV-1 antibody responses in all 393 healthy volunteers. That vaccine’s immunogens are delivered using the company’s AdVac technology.
The worldwide exclusive license and collaboration agreement leverages the Danish biotech’s MVA-BN technology with Janssen’s own AdVac and DNA-based vaccine technologies in the development and commercialization for potential new vaccine regimens against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1).
“We are committed to bringing together the best internal and external science of promising, complementary solutions and advancing them into the clinic as rapidly as possible. Our objective is to identify functional cures for HIV and HBV to control the viruses and prevent potential disease progression without the need for life-long treatment,” said Johan Van Hoof M.D., Global R&D Head, Janssen Infectious Diseases & Vaccines. “With more than 250 million people believed to be living with HBV and a further 37 million with HIV it is critical that we address these significant unmet needs.”
“This agreement builds upon the science and data we have seen to date, which has shown the potential that a combination of our two platforms could serve many patients in a wide range of disease areas,” Bavarian Nordic president and CEO Paul Chaplin, Ph.D., said in a statement.
“We welcome this expansion of what has already been a fantastic relationship between our two companies,” Chaplin added.
The companies are already combining their technologies in developing vaccines for human papillomavirus (HPV) and Ebola virus. Janssen first licensed MVA-BN for use in a heterologous prime-boost Ebola vaccine regimen in 2014, and a year later gained an additional MVA-BN license for HPV.
In this particular collaboration, Janssen is set to pay $10 million upfront to Bavarian Nordic, which will also receive a $33 million equity investment from J&J’s venture capital subsidiary, Johnson & Johnson Innovation–JJDC, via subscription of new Bavarian Nordic shares. Janssen also agreed to shell out up to $836 million in payments tied to achieving development, regulatory, and sales milestones plus tiered royalties on future sales.
The companies’ exclusive license and collaboration agreement is subject to clearance under the Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and is expected to close during the third quarter.
