Juvisé licenses J&J’s MS drug Ponvory for marketing outside North America

"Juvisé secures licensing rights from J&J for the marketing of Ponvory, a multiple sclerosis drug, outside North America. This strategic agreement signals an expansion of access to innovative treatments for MS patients worldwide. Stay tuned for updates on the global distribution and impact of Ponvory."

The market for multiple sclerosis therapies is expected to be worth over $41bn by 2030, according to GlobalData.

France-based Juvisé Pharmaceuticals has acquired global marketing rights, excluding the US and Canada, for Johnson & Johnson (J&J)’s multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy Ponvory (ponesimod).

The French company will also assume worldwide manufacturing duties for Ponvory from sites based in France and Switzerland. Juvisé secured the Ponvory rights from J&J’s subsidiary Actelion Pharmaceuticals.

The financial details of the deals were not disclosed, with Juvisé adding that the deal was funded by “a mix of capital increase, additional debt, and shareholder loan”. Furthermore, a European private credit manager, Bpifrance and Pemberton Asset Management, acquired a minority stake in Juvisé to fund Ponvory’s acquisition.

Ponvory is a once-daily oral selective sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) modulator. The drug was the first oral disease-modifying treatment (DMT) to demonstrate superior efficacy compared to Sanofi’s Aubagio (teriflunomide), another first-line therapy for MS.

Ponvory has been approved by multiple regulatory bodies, including the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a first-line treatment for adults with relapsing forms of MS. In December 2023, J&J sold the North American marketing rights for Ponvory to Vanda Pharmaceuticals for $100m.

Sourced from Pharmaceutical Technology