Tibotec unveils results of experimental HIV drug

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) unit Tibotec Pharmaceuticals has reported results from two pivotal Phase III trials comparing its investigational non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor TMC278 (rilpivirine) with efavirenz. Each drug was administered once daily with a nucleoside/nucleotide background regimen in treatment-naive, HIV-1-infected adults. And while the experimental HIV drug worked as well as efavirenz with fewer side effects, almost twice as many...

New diabetes data highlights promising drug class

Aside from the closely-watched taspoglutide data, a slew of new reports came out of the ADA meeting on experimental diabetes drugs. Here's a sampling of the top news stories: Boehringer Ingelheim laid out data from five trials of its diabetes drug linagliptin, demonstrating lowered blood glucose compared to a placebo. Boehringer is hopeful that the therapy can compete against Januvia and Onglyza after proving that the DPP-4 inhibitor works effectively without having to adjust the dose to...

Ortho-McNeil inks twin diabetes pacts totaling $1B

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals has nailed down commercialization rights to Diamyd Medical's late-stage Type 1 diabetes vaccine. OMJ and Sweden's Diamyd will share development costs on the therapy, now in a late-stage trial, with the pharma company paying $45 million upfront and promising up to $580 million in milestones for the development deal. Once the initial round of Phase III data arrives in the first half of next year, OMJ has the right to take...

J&J MD&D segment sees 80 submissions in next two years

Johnson & Johnson's Medical Devices & Diagnostics segment has received more than a dozen regulatory approvals so far this year, and it plans to make approximately 80 significant submissions across its seven franchises between 2010 and 2012. In fact, the MD&D business segment, which generated $23.6 billion in sales in 2009 and became Johnson & Johnson's largest business segment, holds the No. 1 or 2 market positions in the majority of its markets. These facts were...

Orexo inks $585M drug pact with J&J

Sweden's Orexo is pocketing $10 million from an upfront payment it will reap as part of a three-year, $585 million development pact with J&J's drug arm. The collaboration centers on preclinical small molecule drug candidates Orexo has been working on for asthma, COPD as well as other inflammatory conditions. And Orexo says it stands to gain more than $21 million in research funding from Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceutica. Orexo...

J&J’s Centocor buys RespiVert

Centocor Ortho Biotech, a division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), announced today that it has acquired acquired RespiVert, a private company that's developing small-molecule, inhaled therapies for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. RespiVert's two lead compounds are RV-568 and RV-1088, potential treatments for asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis. Both programs are entering clinical trials.  RespiVert will continue to lead development of the two lung...