Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit is delving into the muscarinic space with $50 million upfront for an oral Pipeline Therapeutics asset that will enter a Phase II in the second half of this year, CEO and president Carmine Stengone told
Endpoints News
.
The San Diego biotech tested its investigational compound, the muscarinic M1 antagonistPIPE-307, in
two
Phase I
studies
and has gained an FDA go-ahead for a mid-stage study in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, or RRMS. After the Phase I studies showed a “clean
safety profile
,” Pipeline attracted “a fair bit of partnering interest,” with a few term sheets negotiated during the process, Stengone said.