Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) shares dropped 20% lower at the beginning of the week immediately after announcing that its hepatitis C partnership with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) pharmaceutical unit has ended. The two companies were jointly developing hepatitis treatments (JNJ-4178) for people suffering from hepatitis C. Achillion reported that it received a notice from its associate Janssen, a subsidiary of J&J stating the termination of their global license and partnership agreements.
Janssen opted to end the deal of developing the hepatitis C treatment regimen after recognizing that there are various therapies that are better and highly effective in addressing the medical condition. Achillion’s collaboration with Janssen was signed in 2015 and it offered Achillion with a reliable and most experienced partner and huge financial support.
With the termination of the contract, the company investors have become troubled due to the uncertainties that Achillion is likely to face in the future. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease and already more than 3.2 million people in America are affected.
In a statement, Achillion’s president and CEO Milind Deshpande stated his disappointment by Janssen’s decision affirming that there were positive data presented in the previous study. However, Janssen confirmed that the ongoing phase two studies of the project will be accomplished as planned, but the company will cease further developments thereafter.
Janssen acknowledged that they will now focus on the chronic hepatitis B, which has high unmet medical needs compared to the hepatitis C therapies. The data from the hepatitis C treatments was announced in April and demonstrated that the new therapy is capable of shortening the treatment duration in patients for about six weeks after the administration of the therapy. The results were recently published in Journal of Hepatology.
Achillion also revealed that they will concentrate on developing Factor D inhibitor (ACH-4471) treatment for patients suffering from Paroxysmal Nocturnal hemaglobinuria (PNH). The short-term findings from the study were announced in August and indicate the clinically significant complement inhibition and encouraging tolerability report of the product.
