Janssen collaborates with Remix to advance small molecule therapeutics

Janssen Pharmaceutica, a subsidiary of US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), has entered into a collaboration with US biotech start-up Remix Therapeutics, for the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics that modulate RNA processing using Remix’ REMaster drug discovery platform.

The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Under the terms of the accord, Remix will receive an initial payment of $45 million in cash for upfront and research funding, and may also receive pre-clinical, clinical, commercial, and sales milestone payments and tiered royalties for any resulting products. In exchange, Janssen will have exclusive rights to three specific targets with applications in immunology and oncology. Remix will have the ability to opt into a portion of the costs of clinical development on one program in exchange for higher royalties. Under the agreement, Remix is eligible to receive total payments potentially exceeding $1 billion, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.