Date: 2012-06-28
Type of information: Company acquisition
Acquired company: Corimmun (Germany)
Acquiring company: Janssen-Cilag GmbH (J&J) (USA)
Amount: undisclosed
Terms: * On June 28, 2012, Janssen-Cilag GmbH has completed the acquisition of CorImmun GmbH, a privately held drug development company in Germany, for an undisclosed upfront payment and a contingent future clinical milestone payment.
CorImmun's lead compound, COR-1, is a small cyclic peptide currently in early clinical development for the treatment of heart failure. COR-1 has been shown in preclinical studies to improve heart function by decreasing autoimmune, beta 1 receptor-simulating antibody effects. Under terms of the agreement, Janssen and its affiliates immediately assume full development and global commercialization responsibilities for the compound.
"The prevalence of heart failure is rising rapidly, and COR-1 is an early stage development compound with a novel mechanism for treating heart failure that has the potential to improve heart function by suppressing antibodies that can exacerbate this condition," said Peter M. DiBattiste, M.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head, Cardiovascular Disease and Metabolism at Janssen Research & Development.
Details: COR-1 has been tailored to treat subgroups of patients in which antibodies against ß1-adrenergic receptors (anti-ß1AR-Ab) occur. About 30% of these patients develop anti-ß1AR-Ab, which have a clearly negative impact on heart function. This patient group suffers from a markedly worse prognosis, and should be specifically treated with COR-1. The concept therefore represents a novel approach in personalized medicine.
A phase II clinical trial is currently ongoing. This study aims to investigate whether COR-1 treatment improves cardiac function in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and specific cardiac autoantibodies. Primary completion of the trial is expected in september 2013.
Related: Drug development
Cardiovascular diseases
Personnalized medicine
