Johnson & Johnson takes $1.5 billion stake in Irish Elan

Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the world's biggest healthcare company, has invested $1.5 billion in Irish biopharmaceutical company Elan Corporation. New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J will take over ElanÔÇÖs 50 percent stake in its Alzheimer's immunotherapy research partnership, or AIP Program, that it currently runs with Madison, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical firm Wyeth.  J&J will set up a new company 49.9 percent owned by Elan, with J&J gaining all rights to any drugs approved and Elan receiving 49.9 percent of the profits, in addition to royalty payments. The research will focus on two injected drugs to stop the progression of AlzheimerÔÇÖs and on a vaccine preventing the buildup of plaque in the brain that causes symptoms such as memory loss and aggression. J&J plans to commit up to $500 million initially for development of bapineuzumab, the compound that is at the most advanced stage in the testing process. Commenting on the new partnership, Husseini Manji, managing director and global therapeutic head of Neuroscience at J&J Pharmaceutical Research & Development, said: ÔÇ£This transaction will be a key component in achieving our vision to develop treatments that target underlying disease biology, thereby helping to prevent some of society's most devastating illnesses.┬áWe expect to focus our resources on bringing the AIP Program to fruition as quickly as possible because of its┬ápotential to slow the progression of AlzheimerÔÇÖs disease." The deal gives J&J a total 18.4 percent stake in Elan, whose US headquarters are based in San Francisco. Wyeth is currently being bought by drugs giant Pfizer for around $68 billion. *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *