Advinus enters R&D alliance with J&J unit

India's Advinus Therapeutics has signed a drug discovery and development accord with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, a unit of US health care giant Johnson & Johnson.

As per the agreement, Advinus will receive an upfront payment and could get milestones of up to $247.0 million upon successful development of two targets. Advinus is also eligible for royalties on the sales of any drug products resulting from the collaboration.

Under the terms of the deal, the two companies will develop drug candidates for various disease targets. Advinus will be responsible for discovery and early clinical development (until the completion of Phase IIa studies), while the US firm will have an option to advance the drug candidates into late-stage trials and will be responsible for worldwide commercialization of the compounds.