MIT's Taris, which is developing a drug delivery system for bladder diseases, has been purchased by Johnson & Johnson.

Medical product group Johnson & Johnson acquired Taris Biomedical, a US-based drug delivery technology spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Friday for an undisclosed amount.
Taris has created a silicon-based drug delivery system intended for use with therapeutics for bladder disease, including related cancers. The TAR-200 device enables medication to be continuously released into the bladder.
Bristol-Myers Squibb took part in the company’s $25m series B round, which was led by venture capital fund Yonghua Capital and also backed by Flagship Pioneering, Polaris Partners, RA Capital Management and Norma Investments, in late 2017.
Originally founded in 2008, Taris sold its lead clinical program to Allergan for an amount that could eventually top $587m, and it relaunched in 2015 with $32m in series A funding from Flagship Pioneering (then Flagship Ventures), Polaris Venture Partners and RA Capital Management.
The company had previously raised more than $30m from backers including Flagship Ventures, Polaris Venture Partners, Third Rock Ventures and Flybridge Capital Partners, though it had stopped listing the latter two as investors on its website pre-acquisition.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.