The acquisition gives Johnson & Johnson access to Firefly Bio’s next-gen platform designed to create degrader antibody conjugates that can crack the tricky KRAS cancer target.
Amid a swarm of new deal announcements, Johnson & Johnson has netted Firefly Bio and its degrader antibody conjugate (DAC) platform technology for $1 billion in cash.
The California biotech’s approach combines the science of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and protein degraders in hopes of delivering a selective protein degrader to tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue and overcoming the limitations of current treatments.
More specifically, J&J plans on using the preclinical biotech’s DAC platform for KRAS-driven tumors, which are typically harder to treat.
“KRAS has notoriously been considered an undruggable target and patients with KRAS-driven cancers continue to face limited treatment options with survival measured in months, not years,” John Reed, J&J’s executive vice president of innovative medicine and R&D, said in a Monday statement. “We believe the proprietary Firelink platform will overcome the limitations of current treatments and diversify our pipeline with preclinical candidates for treating multiple types of solid tumors.”
Firefly flew into the public spotlight back in 2024 when it emerged with $94 million and support from founding investor Versant Ventures, plus MPM BioImpact, Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly. The biotech was co-founded by Nobel prize winner and Stanford professor Carolyn Bertozzi.
The KRAS space has lit up since Revolution Medicines’ RAS inhibitor daraxonrasib doubled pancreatic cancer survival to 13.2 months in PDAC compared to chemotherapy in April. Monday, the company and partner Tango Therapeutics revealed that their partnered combination approach achieved a 92% response rate among 12 patients—a greater response than either have seen as monotherapies or in combination with chemotherapy.
The deal also comes as Roche paid out $700 million upfront for rights to Nurix Therapeutics’ protein degrader called bexobrutideg. In April, Roche also put up to $1 billion on the line to expand an ongoing protein degrader engagement with C4 Therapeutics to include two DACs.
