J&J grabs an op­tion to buy a NASH drug in lat­est string of biotech deals

J&J has grabbed an op­tion to buy Bird Rock Bio and its ex­per­i­men­tal NASH drug can­di­date, the CB1-tar­get­ing an­ti­body na­ma­cizum­ab, if the phar­ma gi­ant likes what it sees in an on­go­ing Phase I study.

La Jol­la, CA-based Bird Rock, which changed its name from RuiYi, is go­ing af­ter the Cannabi­noid re­cep­tor 1, which J&J al­so be­lieves has po­ten­tial for treat­ing di­a­bet­ic kid­ney dis­ease. No terms were giv­en for their op­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion, which topped J&J’s lat­est batch of deals from its glob­al busi­ness de­vel­op­ment team.

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