J&J jettisons several programs, ends seltorexant work in Alzheimer's disease
Johnson & Johnson is jettisoning several programs, with three of the culls taking place in the neuroscience field.
From the Biotech Insider archive. This article dates from Jan 31, 2025 and is preserved as first published.
Johnson & Johnson is jettisoning several programs, with three of the culls taking place in the neuroscience field.
The cuts include a midstage study evaluating seltorexant in patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease, a change first reported by Endpoints News. The updates are reflected in a development pipeline report found on the Big Pharma’s site.
“We regularly prioritize programs in our portfolio to ensure sustainable delivery of transformative medicines to patients with unmet needs,” a J&J spokesperson told Fierce Biotech in an emailed statement Oct. 15.
Seltorexant is a selective antagonist of the human orexin-2 receptor that garnered a phase 3 win back in May as a daily oral add-on to background SSRI/SNRI antidepressants. That trial had enrolled 588 adults with major depressive disorder and insomnia symptoms who previously did not benefit from antidepressants alone.
The now-cut phase 2 Alzheimer’s trial had been examining seltorexant as a single agent for patients with probable Alzheimer’s experiencing clinically significant agitation or aggression. The study had enrolled 70 patients and is now listed as “completed” on ClinicalTrials.gov.
The study had enrolled 70 patients and is now listed as “completed” on ClinicalTrials.
Less than a year ago, the pharma giant emphasized the rise of its R&D work in neuroscience, including the potential seltorexant has as a blockbuster drug. This spring, the company forecast that the drug could eventually bring in yearly sales between $1 billion and $5 billion.
J&J has also ended a phase 1 Parkinson’s disease program testing an asset known as JNJ-0376. Very little was ever publicly shared about the candidate, with the pharma referring to the candidate only as a “novel mechanism” to modify, treat or prevent neurodegenerative disorders in a 2023 presentation (PDF).
The New Jersey-based pharma is also tossing JNJ-55308942, a phase 2 P2X7 antagonist that was studied among patients with bipolar disorder in a major depressive episode. The study enrolled 112 individuals and wrapped up this May, with the asset now completely removed from J&J’s pipeline.
Also missing from J&J’s updated pipeline is JNJ-1459, an early-stage psoriasis candidate that was being developed with X-Chem, a DNA-focused biotech based in Massachusetts.
J&J revealed the pipeline adjustments along with its third-quarter financial results.
