Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson leads in multiple myeloma (Darzalex, Carvykti, Tecvayli, Talvey) and in bispecific antibodies for lung cancer (Rybrevant).
Daratumumab, teclistamab, talquetamab, ciltacabtagene (Legend), amivantamab-lazertinib, TAR-200 intravesical gemcitabine (bladder, approved 2025), pasritamig (KLK2×CD3).
Teclistamab was the first off-the-shelf bispecific for multiple myeloma, and is now approved after just one prior line of therapy.
Ciltacabtagene autoleucel is a one-time BCMA CAR-T for myeloma that, in CARTITUDE-4, cut the risk of death by about 45% compared with standard regimens.
A two-armed antibody that blocks EGFR and its escape partner MET, now first-line for EGFR-mutant lung cancer with lazertinib.
Abiraterone is a pill that shuts down testosterone production everywhere, including inside the tumour. Discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research, now generic and used from the first metastatic diagnosis.
An AR blocker approved for prostate cancer that has spread and for high-risk disease before it shows on scans.
ARX788 is a HER2 ADC with a precisely placed, non-cleavable payload that beat lapatinib-capecitabine in China and showed activity in brain metastases.
Bortezomib was the first proteasome inhibitor: it jams the cell's protein-recycling machine, which antibody-factory plasma cells cannot tolerate.
The CD38 antibody that turned triplets into quadruplets: adding it to standard induction roughly halves the risk of myeloma progressing.
The first targeted pill for bladder cancer, for the roughly 20% of tumours with FGFR3 alterations, used after immunotherapy.
TAR-200 is a small pretzel-shaped device placed in the bladder that releases gemcitabine for three weeks at a time. It was approved in 2025 for early bladder cancer that no longer responds to BCG.
The pill that ended chemotherapy for most CLL. It blocks the survival signal B cells depend on, and it was the first drug to beat chemoimmunotherapy in nearly every CLL setting.
A third-generation EGFR pill used together with amivantamab as the first regimen to beat osimertinib in EGFR-mutant lung cancer.
J&J's prostate-specific T-cell engager, notable for very little cytokine release in early trials.
Talquetamab is the first drug against GPRC5D, a second myeloma target used after BCMA therapies stop working; taste and skin side effects are its signature.
A chemotherapy derived from a sea squirt, used with liposomal doxorubicin in relapsed ovarian cancer in Europe and for sarcomas.
CEPHEUS extends the quadruplet standard to patients who are not going to transplant, closing the gap between transplant-eligible and ineligible populations. It is also one of the first phase 3 trials to be designed around MRD-negativity as the primary endpoint, which could shorten future myeloma trials by years. Frailer patients still need dose-adapted approaches.
Patients with high-risk bladder cancer confined to the lining whose disease has not responded to BCG now have a bladder-sparing option that clears the cancer in most cases, delivered through a simple outpatient procedure. It may allow many to avoid or defer cystectomy, a life-changing operation. Whether responses translate into avoided progression and cystectomy over the long term, and how it compares with cystectomy on survival, remain to be shown.
Patients newly diagnosed with EGFR-mutated advanced lung cancer now have a first-line option that improves survival over osimertinib, particularly if they have high-risk features. The trade-off is intravenous (now subcutaneous) infusions and considerably more skin, nail and clotting toxicity, so osimertinib alone remains reasonable for those who prioritise convenience and tolerability. Both this regimen and osimertinib plus chemotherapy (FLAURA2) are approved; there is no direct comparison.
PERSEUS, with the earlier GRIFFIN and CASSIOPEIA trials, made a four-drug daratumumab quadruplet the standard for fit patients heading to transplant. It also introduced MRD-directed stopping of the antibody, a step towards treatment that is deep but not indefinite. Whether transplant itself remains necessary on top of a quadruplet is now the open question.
CARTITUDE-4 is the first randomised trial to show that a CAR-T improves survival in myeloma, and it moved cilta-cel into second-line use (FDA approval 2024). For patients whose disease returns after first-line lenalidomide, a one-off cell therapy now competes with continuous drug combinations. Capacity, cost and the need for bridging therapy still limit who actually receives it.
Teclistamab showed that an off-the-shelf bispecific can approach CAR-T-like response rates in late myeloma, giving patients who cannot wait for or access cell therapy a real option. It also exposed the price: prolonged T-cell engagement causes profound immunosuppression, so infection prophylaxis and immunoglobulin replacement are now routine. Less frequent dosing after response is being adopted to reduce this burden.
CARTITUDE-1 showed that a single CAR-T infusion can put late-stage myeloma into deep, multi-year remission, leading to FDA approval of cilta-cel in 2022 for heavily pretreated disease. It set the efficacy bar for BCMA-directed therapy and motivated moving CAR-T earlier (CARTITUDE-4). Late neurological toxicity and secondary malignancies remain the safety questions.
MAIA made a daratumumab-based triplet the standard first treatment for older or frail myeloma patients, replacing Rd alone. It proved an anti-CD38 antibody could improve survival, not just delay progression, when used up front. Quadruplets built on this backbone are now being tested in the same population.
Men diagnosed with prostate cancer that has already spread, or that is locally advanced and high risk, should start abiraterone (or another androgen-receptor pathway inhibitor) at the same time as testosterone suppression rather than waiting for resistance. This roughly halves the risk of death over several years. The same platform later showed that docetaxel chemotherapy and, in high-volume metastatic disease, triple therapy also help, and that abiraterone benefits men with high-risk disease treated with radiotherapy.