John Reed Jumps Ship at Sanofi to Helm J&J’s R&D

Courtesy josefkubes/Getty Images_John Reed_courtes

Courtesy josefkubes/Getty Images_John Reed_courtes

Fresh off of his Sanofi exit, John Reed is joining Johnson & Johnson, where he will serve as executive vice president, pharmaceuticals, R&D.

Courtesy josefkubes/Getty Images

Fresh off of his Sanofi exit, John Reed is joining Johnson & Johnson, where he will serve as executive vice president, pharmaceuticals, R&D, the New Jersey-based company announced late Monday afternoon.

Monday morning, Sanofi revealed Reed was leaving his post as global head of R&D to “pursue a new opportunity” outside the company.

Reed will start at J&J on Apr. 3, when he will take the place of William Hait who has acted as the interim head of J&J’s pharmaceutical R&D since August 2022.

John Reed, M.D., Ph.D.

John Reed, M.D., Ph.D.

Reed brings more than 35 years of biomedical research experience to J&J. This will help the company’s pharmaceuticals R&D division “accelerate innovation and competitiveness” in its objective to address unmet medical needs for patients around the world, Joaquin Duato, chairman of the board and CEO, J&J, said in a statement.

Prior to Sanofi, Reed was global head of Roche’s pharmaceutical research & early development division. He also previously served as CEO of an independent non-profit biomedical research institution in California.

Four Potential Approvals

This news comes as J&J is gearing up for four potential drug approvals in the U.S.

In December 2022, the company submitted a Biological License Application for talquetamab to the FDA. Talquetamab is an investigational, off-the-shelf bispecific T-cell engager being studied in multiple myeloma. The candidate is designed to target GPRC5D, a protein overexpressed on myeloma cells, and CD3, which is central to T-cell activation.

Talquetamab’s BLA is supported by data from the Phase I/II first-in-human MonumenTAL-1 study, which documented a 74.1% overall response rate in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients given a 0.4-mg/kg weekly subcutaneous dose of the candidate. Median duration for talquetamab was at least nine months.

The company is also expecting an approval for its hypertension hopeful aprocitentan, a novel dual endothelin receptor antagonist whose New Drug Application was submitted to the FDA in December 2022. J&J is developing aprocitentan in partnership with Swiss biotech Idorsia.

In the EU, J&J is awaiting the potential approval of niraparib as a first-line treatment in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer when used in combination with abiraterone acetate and prednisone. A U.S. regulatory submission is scheduled for 2023 in this indication.

J&J also anticipates approvals for its HIV therapeutic Edurant (rilpivirine) in children ages 2 to 12 years old, and a tablet reduction indication for Erleada (apalutamide) in prostate cancer.

Tristan is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, with more than eight years of experience writing about medicine, biotech and science. He can be reached at tristan.manalac@biospace.com, tristan@tristanmanalac.com or on LinkedIn.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC