J&J's $3 billion acquisition of Halda offers a way to overcome drug resistance in prostate cancer and more
Johnson & Johnson acquired Halda Therapeutics for $3.05 billion to expand its oncology product line. Halda Therapeutics is a startup with a first-in-class approach to treating prostate cancer that could overcome drug resistance, including to one of the pharmaceutical giant's own blockbuster products.
The cash deal announced Monday gives J&J the platform technology to make Halda's prostate cancer drug HLD-0915. This technology has also resulted in preclinical programs in breast cancer. Johnson & Johnson noted that in addition to its potential to treat other types of solid tumors, the technology could also be applied to other diseases.
New Haven, Conn.-based Halda aims to treat cancer using orally administered small molecules that target both cancer-specific proteins and proteins with essential functions. The startup says this bifunctional approach triggers protein-protein interactions that inhibit basic cellular functions, killing cancer cells but sparing healthy cells.
Halda, whose name is taken from the Old Norse word meaning “to control or keep,” describes its approach to treating cancer as “controlling and killing.” The startup was spun out of Yale University based on the research of Craig Crews, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology. Cruise previously founded Arvinas Therapeutics, a biotech company developing drugs based on targeting protein degradation mechanisms using bifunctional small molecules called proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs). Halda's technology is called Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimera, or RIPTAC. Halda came out of hiding in 2023.
J&J's lineup of drugs to treat prostate cancer is led by androgen receptor inhibitor Erleada, a once-daily drug that had sales of nearly $3 billion last year, making it the company's third-largest cancer product. The pharmaceutical giant's other prostate cancer therapies include the CYP17 inhibitor Zytiga and Akeega, a combination therapy approved two years ago that pairs the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Zytiga with the PARP inhibitor niraparib.
Halda's HLD-0915 is formulated as a once-daily pill designed to track the androgen receptor on prostate cancer cells, binding the protein to an effector protein to trigger tumor-killing effects. An open-label Phase 1/2 study is ongoing. The study enrolled men 18 years and older with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer that had progressed after prior systemic therapy, including androgen receptor pathway inhibitors such as Johnson & Johnson's Erleada. Patients may also have received up to two taxane chemotherapy treatments and one prior radioligand treatment, such as Novartis' Pluvicto.
Results from the 40-patient phase 1 portion were presented last month at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference in Boston. Halda said all four doses of HLD-0915 were well tolerated and showed early signs of anti-tumor activity, including reductions in prostate cancer biomarkers. Two mid-dose drugs are recommended for the Phase 2 portion of the clinical trial, which is expected to begin by the end of this year. John Reed, Johnson & Johnson's executive vice president of innovative medicine research and development, said HLD-0915's approach has the potential to overcome drug resistance that makes other treatments less effective over time.
“Halda's innovative technology is designed to harness a novel mechanism that selectively kills cancer cells even when the cancer is no longer responding to standard treatments,” Reed said in Johnson & Johnson's acquisition announcement. “The results for HLD-0915 demonstrate impressive preliminary efficacy and a strong early safety profile in prostate cancer.”
Johnson & Johnson said it expects the Halda acquisition to close in the coming months.
Photo: Mario Tamar, Getty Images
