Novartis taking over responsibility of cardiovascular therapy agent TQJ230 from Akcea Therapetuics

Novartis will exercise its option for worldwide responsibility of TQJ230, an investigational agent for targeted cardiovascular therapy previously known as AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx, from Akcea Therapeutics, an affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

TQJ230 was discovered by Ionis and has been co-developed to date by Akcea and Ionis.

In the announcement on Monday, Novartis noted that the results of a Phase 2 study presented at AHA in November 2018 showed that TQJ230 significantly reduced Lp(a) in patients with high Lp(a) and pre-existing CVD. Novartis said ti plans to take over for a Phase 3 cardiovascular outcomes trial with the potential of addressing the Lp(a) patient community’s unmet need for effective treatment.

John Tsai, Head of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer at Novartis said the novel, RNA-targeting approach that could be a game-changer for people with elevated Lp(a).

“If our Phase 3 trial succeeds, we expect that TQJ230 will become the leading treatment option and another pillar of our longstanding commitment to re-imagining cardiovascular medicine,” Tsai said.