2015年伊始,位于加州卡尔斯巴德市的生物技术公司Isis医药公司再迎来一个开门红。Isis生物技术公司与强生公司签订了一项价值高达8亿3千5百万美元的合作协议,共同开发用于治疗肠道自身免疫疾病的RNA药物。
这份协议中包括了3500万美元的预付款和高达8亿美元的里程碑奖金,同时Isis公司还将从产品中分享版权费。这也是继阿斯利康公司扩大与Isis医药公司的合作之后,Isis公司迎来的又一项重大合作关系。双方并未透露此次合作的具体细节,仅表示这一协议中包括了约三项药物研发工作。
作为一家新型药物研发公司,Isis医药公司在RNA输送技术方面有着强大的优势。利用在该领域的优势,Isis医药公司已经与包括强生、阿斯利康、罗氏、百健艾迪以及葛兰素史克公司在RNA药物研发领域建立了一系列密切合作。而截止到目前,Isis医药公司共有34项药物项处于研发阶段。
著名市场研究公司Allied发表报告称,未来RNA药物将呈现高速增长趋势,到2020年,这类药物销售额将有望突破12亿美元,平均年增长率将保持在28.4%左右。这一报告一经出炉,立刻引起了业界、投资者和科学家们的关注。
Alliedg公司指出,随着近年来载药系统技术研究的突破,困扰RNA药物的最大难题正在被克服。因此科学家有望利用RNAi的方法来治疗包括癌症在内的众多疾病。
不过,有人认为RNA药物尚面临着诸多的不确定性,一方面是药物输送还存在一些问题,另一方面许多专家对RNA药物的副作用心存疑虑。这也体现在一些制药巨头蜂拥进入,相继开展相关研究;而另一些医药公司如诺华公司等则选择退出,作壁上观。
详细英文报道:
You can now count Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) among the roster of big companies to ally itself with Isis Pharmaceuticals' ($ISIS) R&D group. J&J has stepped up with an $835 million pact to develop new drugs for autoimmune diseases of the gastrointestinal tract with the RNA specialists at Isis.
Just a few months after AstraZeneca ($AZN) expanded its development work with Isis, J&J is paying $35 million upfront and offering up to $800 million in milestones for the deal. Isis also stands to earn royalties from any marketed drugs that comes from its antisense technology platform.
The deal covers three programs and marks an extension of the Carlsbad, CA-based company's active partnering operation, which has attracted a Who's Who in the biopharma business. In addition to AstraZeneca, Isis has lured in Biogen Idec ($BIIB), Roche ($RHHBY) and GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) with its antisense tech. Isis' partner Genzyme, a subsidiary of Sanofi ($SNY), is commercializing Kynamro, which got off to a slow start in 2014. The biotech also has a full pipeline of 34 new drugs in development.
Shares of Isis jumped about 5% this morning. The company is occasionally tapped as a likely takeover target, though nothing has come of the rumors yet.
RNA has had its ups and downs over the years as Big Pharma either jumped in, bowed out or reentered the field. Today's move by J&J, though, marks another big bet in its favor.
"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," noted Isis COO B. Lynne Parshall in a statement. "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."