Janssen Pharma, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, said it is parting ways with Theravance Biopharma after the failure of their lead drug candidate –izencitinib– targeting inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).  The companies had entered into a partnership 3 years ago for izencitinib, an oral, gut-selective JAK inhibitor for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Theravance recently announced negative results for the drug as it did not make much of a difference over the placebo in varying doses. Later this year, the company also had another failed trial over a cardiac drug, forcing it to lay off 75 percent of its staff as a measure of strategic action to refocus on respiratory diseases.