Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a  leading company in antisense drug discovery and development, exploiting a novel drug discovery platform, has entered into a global collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen) to discover and develop antisense drugs to treat autoimmune disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.  The collaboration brings together Isis' RNA-targeted technology platform and the expertise of Janssen in autoimmune disorders and therapeutic formulation to discover and develop antisense drugs that can be locally administered, including oral delivery, to treat autoimmune disorders in the GI tract.

"We are excited to be working with Janssen to apply our drug discovery and development efforts in this therapeutic area.  This collaboration broadens the utility of our drug discovery technology to new targets in the GI tract and expands the administration of antisense drugs to local delivery, including oral delivery, to the gut," said B. Lynne Parshall, chief operating officer at Isis Pharmaceuticals. "We are the leader in RNA-targeted therapeutics and our innovation and the successes of our pipeline drugs enable us to form collaborations, like this one, with leaders in specific therapeutic areas.  This partnering strategy ensures that we have access to resources that support and enhance our drug discovery efforts and also provides us with collaborators, like Janssen, who are uniquely capable of conducting development, marketing and commercial efforts for these drugs."

Under the terms of the agreement, which covers three programmes, Isis will receive $35 million in upfront payments, including a payment to initiate human  lead optimization on the first collaboration target.  Isis is eligible to receive nearly $800 million in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments and license fees for these programs.  In addition, Isis will receive tiered royalties that on average are double-digits on sales from any product that is successfully commercialized.  Janssen has the option to license a drug from each of the programs once a development candidate is identified. If Janssen exercises its option, it will assume global development, regulatory and commercialization responsibilities.

Isis is exploiting its leadership position in RNA-targeted technology to discover and develop novel drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners.  Isis' broad pipeline consists of 34 drugs to treat a wide variety of diseases with an emphasis on cardiovascular, metabolic, severe and rare diseases, including neurological disorders, and cancer.