Johnson & Johnson is adding to its oncology pipeline with a $3.05 billion deal to acquire Halda Therapeutics , a startup whose first-in-class approach to prostate cancer could overcome drug resistance — including resistance to one of the pharmaceutical giant’s own blockbuster products.

The cash deal announced Monday brings to J&J the platform technology that produced the Halda prostate cancer drug, HLD-0915. This technology has also produced a preclinical program for breast cancer. Beyond the potential to address other types of solid tumors, J&J notes this technology could be applied to other diseases.

New Haven, Connecticut-based Halda aims to treat cancers with oral small molecules that go after both a cancer-specific protein and a protein with an essential function. The startup says

See Full Page