BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

J&J execs launch Centyrins newco Aro

February 20, 2018 11:57 PM UTC

Two former Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) executives have co-founded Aro Biotherapeutics Co. (Philadelphia, Pa.) to develop Centyrins for extra-hepatic, receptor-mediated delivery of oligonucleotides and other payloads. Aro President and CEO Susan Dillon was previously global therapeutic area head for immunology in the Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit of J&J. Aro CSO Karyn O'Neil was venture leader for Centyrex, a J&J unit that was developing the Centyrin platform.

The company has not disclosed a pipeline or programs. Centyrins are a class of human fibronectin type III domain-based scaffold molecules that bind protein targets with high affinity and specificity, similar to single-chain variable fragments (scFvs). Centyrins are smaller than scFVs and are derived human consensus tenascin FN3 domains. ...