J&J, Gilead Sign Deal For Combination HIV Therapy

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) agreed to develop a new combination HIV drug, and are in talks to further expand their partnership on drugs for the virus causes AIDS.

The companies plan to develop a single-tablet combination of J&J's Prezista drug with Gilead's experimental drug cobicistat.

Prezista, which has been on the market since 2006, is a so-called protease inhibitor designed to treat HIV infection and is taken with the drug Norvir, in combination with other antiretroviral agents.

Gilead has been testing cobicistat as a "boosting agent" to enhance blood levels of certain other HIV drugs. The companies plan to combine Prezista with cobicistat in a single table that can be taken once daily.

J&J will be responsible for the formulation, manufacturing, registration, distribution and commercialization of the combination drug worldwide. Gilead will retain sole rights to manufacture, develop and commercialize cobicistat as a stand-alone product and for use in combination with other agents.

Financial terms weren't disclosed.

In addition, J&J and Gilead are negotiating terms for the development and commercialization of a single-tablet regimen, combining Prezista with Gilead's Emtriva drug and Gilead's experimental drugs GS 7340 and cobicistat.

Piper Jaffray analysts said the new deal was a modest positive for J&J as it builds a franchise in HIV medications. They said it's difficult, however, to assess the financial impact on J&J until the negotiations on the single-tablet regimen are complete and terms are disclosed.

The moves would expand a partnership between J&J and Gilead formed in 2009. Under that deal, the companies developed a combination of Gilead's Truvada HIV drug and J&J's Edurant.

Earlier this year, Gilead re-submitted an application for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the Truvada-Edurant combination, after the FDA said the initial application didn't contain sufficient information. The FDA approved Edurant as a stand-alone drug in May

Shares of Gilead rose 1.4% to $40.74, while J&J was up 0.9% at $65.84 in recent trading.

-By Peter Loftus, Dow Jones Newswires; +1-215-982-5581; peter.loftus@dowjones.com

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