Company that developed drug that could prevent heart attack and stroke, headed by Cambridge Judge alumnus, sold to Johnson & Johnson.
A biotech company headed by a Cambridge Judge MBA alumnus that developed a drug with the potential to prevent heart attack and stroke without causing bleeding has been acquired by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, part of the global company Johnson & Johnson.
Ichorcumab is a synthetic human antibody, developed to mimic the activity of an antibody discovered through luck, which appears to produce a blood-thinned state without predisposition to bleeding. XO1 developed the synthetic antibody which was invented at the University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
The chief executive of XO1 is Dr Richard Mason, a member of the Cambridge MBA class of 1999 and a Fellow in Health Management at Cambridge Judge. Richard teaches the Biopharmaceutical elective at the Cambridge MBA programme.
The transaction, financial terms of which were not disclosed, was facilitated through Johnson & Johnson Innovation in London.