Today, a brief rundown of news involving Johnson & Johnson and Krystal Biotech, as well as updates from Merck & Co., Pathos AI, Helus Pharma and Novartis that you may have missed.
Jennifer Taubert, the longtime leader of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical business, will retire after a 21-year stint, the company said Tuesday. Taubert was involved in "nearly every aspect" of that business over the course of her tenure, from commercial strategy to dealmaking and building the company's expertise in different therapeutic areas, J&J said. That "innovative medicines" division now accounts for over $60 billion in annual revenue. Effective Sept. 1, she'll be replaced by Tom Cavanaugh, who currently chairs the division’s North America branch. — Ben Fidler
Shares of Krystal Biotech lost nearly 30% of their value after the company missed quarterly revenue projections for its gene therapy Vyjuvek. According to Krystal, Vyjuvek, which is approved for the rare genetic skin condition dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, generated about $119.2 million during April and June. That figure is 24% higher than last year’s second-quarter total, but fell short of consensus estimates by about $2 million. The biggest reason, wrote Jefferies analyst Roger Song, was that “pricing volatility” in Europe masked “strong demand” for the treatment. Song argued in a Monday client note that Vyjuvek’s launches in the U.S. and abroad are “tracking favorably” despite the revenue miss, and that additional coming marketing applications in other countries could boost its prospects. — Ben Fidler
An inflammatory disease drug Merck & Co. paid $11 billion for posted mixed results in a pair of Phase 2 trials. In its latest quarterly earnings report, Merck said tulisokibart, acquired in its buyout of Prometheus Biosciences, succeeded in one mid-stage study in the skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa but failed a second one in a kind of systemic sclerosis associated with lung inflammation. Merck previously disclosed that tulisokibart — part of a new class of inflammatory disease medicines aimed at the protein TL1A — met its objectives in a Phase 3 trial in ulcerative colitis. — Ben Fidler
Helus Pharma, a psychedelics specialist formerly known as Cybin, on Monday announced that it has appointed Michael Halstead as CEO. Halstead previously served as president of Intra-Cellular Therapies, a brain drug developer that Johnson & Johnson bought last year for nearly $15 billion. His experience “guiding pharmaceutical companies through late-stage development, infrastructure buildout, and commercialization will be invaluable” to Helus, Co-founder and Executive Chairman Eric So said in a statement. Helus expects toward the end of this year results from a key late-stage trial testing its most advanced drug — a modified form of psilocybin, the mind-altering compound found in certain mushroom species — as a treatment for major depressive disorder. — Jacob Bell
Pathos AI has grabbed rights to two experimental cancer drugs through deals with AstraZeneca and a subsidiary of Suzhou, China-based Alphamab Oncology. Pathos didn’t disclose the financial terms of the AstraZeneca pact, only noting that through the alliance it’ll take over early development of a preclinical, protein-degrading breast cancer drug called AZD4241. But the company will pay Alphamab $125 million upfront, and possibly another nearly $2.1 billion in the future, for most rights to a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate it sees having the potential to treat a range of solid tumors. That prospect, JSKN016, seeks out the popular cancer targets TROP2 and HER3 and is currently in Phase 3 testing in China. The Alphamab deal is at least the 39th licensing pact of its kind this year, according to BioPharma Dive data. — Ben Fidler
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday widened use of Novartis’ radiopharmaceutical Pluvicto in people with prostate cancer. Pluvicto was already cleared for use in advanced “castration-resistant” tumors before or after chemotherapy in people who’d already received a kind of hormone therapy. Friday’s clearance makes Pluvicto available much earlier, alongside standard hormone treatments in patients with newly diagnosed disease. According to Novartis, that nod will nearly double the number of patients eligible for treatment and enable use across all stages of metastatic prostate cancer that’s positive for the protein PSMA. Pluvicto generated about $2 billion in sales last year and is on track to surpass that total in 2026. — Ben Fidler
