Shares of biotech company Achillion Pharmaceuticals were more than 20 percent lower Monday in premarket trading after it announced its hepatitis C collaboration with a Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical unit ended.
Johnson & Johnson was down slightly in premarket trading after its Janssen Sciences Ireland said it would discontinue further development of the investigational hepatitis C treatment regimen JNJ-4178 amid a crowded market.
Janssen said there is an increasing availability of a number of highly effective therapies addressing the medical need. Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease which affects about 3.2 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a statement Monday, Achillion President and CEO Milind Deshpande said he was "disappointed" by the Janssen decision, given the positive data presented in a recent study.
Ongoing phase two studies with JNJ-4178 will be completed as planned, Janssen said in a statement, but will cease thereafter.
"Going forward, our hepatitis R&D efforts will focus on chronic hepatitis B, where a high unmet medical need still exists," Lawrence Blatt, global therapeutic area head, infectious disease therapeutics, Janssen, said in a statement.