Plus deals involving Santen/Harrow/Visiox, Aurobindo/BioFactura, AFT/Crossject, Imugene/RenovoRx, Biotheus/BioNTech, GeneQuantum/InxMed, ObsEva/Yuyuan, Monopar/National University of Singapore and Doer Biologics/BioNTech.

With J&J’s blockbuster Stelara treatment for autoimmune diseases scheduled to fall to biosimilar competition in the coming years, Aurobindo’s biosimilars business has stepped up to get a piece of the action, striking a deal with BioFactura.

Hopes are rising that Johnson & Johnson will be able to emulate AbbVie’s success in delaying US biosimilar competition to its top-selling Humira by using a similar settlement strategy with its anti-IL12/IL23 blockbuster Stelara.

BioFactura, which is already using its ‘StableFast’ technology platform to develop its biosimilar ustekinumab candidate, has allied with fellow US-based biotech Rani Therapeutics to see if the biologic can be formulated into Rani’s proprietary ‘robotic’ pill.