J&J snags rights to a gene ther­a­py port­fo­lio from lit­tle MeiraGTx, a spin­off from Sam Wak­sal’s Kad­mon

Af­ter get­ting a quick les­son on lit­tle MeiraGTx’s gene ther­a­py ef­forts — in­clud­ing their home made on/off switch — J&J is go­ing all in. And like oth­er deals it’s made re­cent­ly, J&J’s re­search or­ga­ni­za­tion un­der Math­ai Mam­men is demon­strat­ing its en­thu­si­asm for small biotechs that are short on his­to­ry and long on promise.

The phar­ma gi­ant fol­lowed up on the ini­tial re­search al­liance they signed last fall with the biotech and snapped up com­mer­cial rights to a slate of clin­i­cal-stage, once-and-done de­vel­op­ment pro­grams aimed at eye dis­eases. J&J will pay $100 mil­lion in a cash up­front for the deal and is putting an­oth­er $340 mil­lion on the ta­ble in mile­stones.

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