Johnson & Johnson has struck an all-cash $6.5 billion deal to buy Momenta Pharmaceuticals. The takeover, announced 19 August, gives Johnson & Johnson access to antibodies to target orphan autoimmune disorders with unmet need discovered through Momenta’s platform technologies. Momenta’s pipeline, which includes treatments for myasthenia gravis, hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, immune thrombocytopenic purpura and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, centers on antibodies that bind Fc receptors. Certain Fc receptors, such as the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) and the Fcγ receptor, play a role in recycling and prolonging the lifetime of immunoglobulin G (IgG) in circulation. Blocking FcRn with antibodies — for instance, Momenta’s nipocalimab — could prevent the pathogenic actions of autoantibodies and antigen–autoantibody complexes. The expectation is that treatment with nipocalimab could result in improvements similar to those observed with therapeutic plasmapheresis and immunoabsorption of autoantibodies.
The buyout came shortly after phase 2 trial data in myasthenia gravis showed that nipocalimab improved symptom severity in over half of patients, with clinical efficacy correlating with reduced IgG levels. The antibody is also in a phase 3 trial for warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia and in phase 2 testing for hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. Other FcRn blockers are UCB’s rozanolixizumab and Argenx’s efgartigimod, already in phase 3 studies.
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