With one pan­dem­ic still rag­ing, J&J bets $780M on a po­ten­tial flu ther­a­py for the next

As it rolls out the first jabs of its Covid-19 vac­cine in the US, J&J al­ready has its eyes on the next pan­dem­ic. Now, it’s will­ing to bet up to $780 mil­lion on a new class of drugs that Cidara Ther­a­peu­tics says could take out all strains of the flu.

Janssen, J&J’s Bel­gian sub­sidiary, is plunk­ing down $27 mil­lion up­front for ac­cess to Cidara’s lead an­tivi­ral con­ju­gate CD388, which CEO Jef­frey Stein says has the po­ten­tial to treat and pro­tect against all flu strains with a sin­gle dose. The deal is one ex­am­ple of the next wave of pipeline work be­ing es­tab­lished as the US be­gins to get its hands around the cur­rent pan­dem­ic.

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