Johnson & Johnson is culling a partnership with Bavarian Nordic to develop vaccines for human papillomavirus (HPV) and hepatitis B, but keeping two other programs for Ebola and HIV.
The about-face, announced by J&J Monday, comes more than six years after the company's Janssen unit teamed up with Bavarian Nordic to produce an HPV jab using the Danish biotech’s MVA-BN platform. Under the terms of that deal, Janssen coughed up $9 million, with over $160 million in biobucks also up for grabs. Janssen was responsible for development costs while Bavarian Nordic covered manufacturing costs.
The financial impact of axing the hepatitis B program is unclear, given it was announced in 2017 alongside the HIV program. At the time, the combined HIV-hepatitis B deal was worth up to $879 million, including $10 million in cash up front and a $33 million equity investment in Bavarian Nordic. At the time of publishing, a J&J spokesperson had not responded to questions regarding the financial implications of ending this deal.
The continuing Ebola agreement was inked back in 2014 and was worth as much as $187 million. It included a $25 million upfront payment from Janssen plus a $70.8 million down payment as part of a supply agreement for more than 1 million doses.
A spokesperson for Bavarian Nordic said in a statement that the two culled programs were “not part of our active pipeline” and have ended before either entered the clinic. The decision has no impact on the company’s finances, the spokesperson added.
In a release, J&J said it would focus its efforts on other chronic hepatitis B treatments in its pipeline, which includes two phase 2 combo therapies. As for HPV, the company attributed its decision to the widespread use of existing vaccines and said that, at this moment, it would not pursue a vaccine for the disease.
The decision came as J&J said the faster-than-expected progression of some programs meant the company's R&D costs had been front-loaded into the most recent quarter. CFO Joe Wolk name-checked a phase 3 trial of multiple myeloma treatment teclistamab in earlier lines of treatment as one therapy that is progressing ahead of schedule.