Johnson & Johnson pays $1B for Elan stake
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Johnson & Johnson will take an 18.4 percent stake in Ireland-based drug developer Elan Corp. with a $1 billion investment.
Johnson & Johnson also is buying Elan Corp.'s stake in its Alzheimer's disease treatment partnership with Wyeth, and rolling it into a new company that will be 49.9 percent owned by Elan.
New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, which has operations in the Philadelphia region, plans to commit as much as $500 million for development of bapineuzumab, a drug that is intended to slow the progression of the disease.
The Alzheimer's division has four drug candidates in clinical or preclinical testing.
