Johnson & Johnson is winding down its pharma division’s cardiovascular and metabolic unit, Endpoints News has learned.
The decision primarily impacts the sales, marketing and medical affairs teams, which were notified Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said. In a statement, a company spokesperson said that “we must adapt and evolve our businesses in the midst of a complex and rapidly changing external environment.”
It’s at least the second large restructuring for the pharma group after it closed its infectious disease and vaccine unit last year. The change spurred job cuts across the globe, and J&J divested numerous vaccine and prophylactic programs. The newest changes primarily impact the cardiovascular unit’s commercial work as opposed to research and development.
The New Jersey pharma has downplayed its cardio and metabolic work since rebranding its pharmaceutical unit from Janssen to J&J Innovative Medicine a year ago. As part of the change, J&J narrowed its R&D focus to three therapeutic areas: oncology, immunology and neuroscience.
The now-shuttered unit’s portfolio was led by Xarelto, a Bayer-partnered anticoagulant that was once one of the world’s top-selling drugs. It was recently included in the first list of 10 medicines subject to Medicare price negotiations as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The government negotiated a 62% reduction in the drug’s list price, though that does not include the cost after rebates or discounts. Xarelto made roughly $1.1 billion in sales through the first half of 2024, a 9.1% drop compared to the first half of 2023.
Behind Xarelto was milvexian, a late-stage cardio drug being developed with Bristol Myers Squibb to treat atrial fibrillation and secondary stroke prevention. The development and profit sharing pact was announced in 2018, though financial details weren’t disclosed then.
“We remain committed to milvexian,” a spokesperson said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a comment from J&J regarding its commitment to milvexian.