Janssen acquires anti-depressant drug in $25m deal

Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has acquired an anti-depressant drug candidate in a $25 million deal with Cerecor.

Cerecor, a biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates for patients with neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, sold all of its rights to CERC-501.

Under the agreement, which was announced on Monday, August 14, there is also the potential for a regulatory milestone payment worth $20 million.

Cerecor has been developing CERC-501, a selective oral kappa opioid receptor, as a treatment for major depressive disorder and substance use disorders.

Uli Hacksell, president, CEO and chairman of Cerecor, said: “For Cerecor the sale provides an important cash infusion and the consequential opportunity to add additional resources into the development of our remaining assets, CERC-301, CERC-611 and CERC-406, and the potential expansion of our drug candidate portfolio.”

He added that the neuroscience expertise and strength of Janssen will be “instrumental in achieving the full medical and commercial potential of CERC-501”.

Janssen will assume the ongoing clinical trials and be responsible for any new development and commercialisation of CERC-501.

On the same day, Hacksell announced his retirement, although he will stay on as chairman of the board.

John Kaiser, chief business officer of Cerecor, has been appointed interim CEO.

“The recent cash infusions in Cerecor from the equity investment by Armistice Capital in the second quarter of 2017 and the sale of CERC-501 to Janssen … have provided me with the opportunity to leave the day-to-day responsibilities of Cerecor to a new CEO, knowing that I can be optimistic about a bright future for the company,” said Hacksell.

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