GSK has set its sights on dominance of the market for hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutics, licensing an antisense oligonucleotide drug from Arrowhead Pharma and Johnson & Johnson that had been considered a rival to its in-house candidate bepirovirsen.
The deal sees rights to JNJ-3989 (also known as ARO-HBV) transfer from J&J’s Janssen pharmaceuticals unit to GSK in return for around $1 billion in upfront and potential milestone-based payments.
