Johnson & Johnson Ignites CAR-T Ambitions With Licensing Pact With Cellular Biomedicine

Johnson & Johnson's JNJ pharma unit Janssen entered into a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc to develop, manufacture and commercialize next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for B-cell malignancies.

The company said these investigational CD20-directed autologous CAR-Ts demonstrated favorable overall and complete response rates in Phase 1 studies in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in China, with the majority of study participants having diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cellular Biomedicine will grant Janssen a worldwide license to develop and commercialize the CAR-T assets, except in Greater China. 

The companies will negotiate an option for Janssen to commercialize the products in the China territory. 

Janssen will make an upfront payment of $245 million.

Johnson & Johnson estimates that this collaboration will have an annual approximate 10-cent negative impact on EPS in 2023 and 2024. 

Johnson & Johnson is developing Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), a genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy in collaboration with Legend Biotech Corporation LEGN for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Many of J&J's Big Pharma peers have pressed ahead with their CAR-T ambitions, including Novartis AG's NVS Kymriah or Gilead Sciences Inc GILD, which is exploring the possibility of allogeneic or "off the shelf" options. 

Price Action: JNJ shares are up 0.39% at $164.23 on the last check Tuesday.