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Novartis has decided to exit antibacterial and antiviral research. About 140 related jobs are being eliminated in Emeryville, Calif.; about 150 jobs will remain in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and at departments that support efforts focused on difficult targets. The firm says it is talking to other companies about out-licensing its antibiotic programs. They include LYS228, a compound that is being tested in clinical trials for its ability to kill Gram-negative bacteria.

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals is putting $100 million into MeiraGTx, a London-based developer of gene therapies for retinal and other diseases. The firm uses adeno-associated viruses to deliver corrective genes to the eye, salivary gland, and central nervous system. Janssen and MeiraGTx will work on treatments, now in clinical trials, for the eye diseases achromatopsia and X-linked retinitis pigmentosa.

Evonik Industries has acquired Wilshire Technologies, a Princeton, New Jersey–based supplier of phytochemicals and derivatives to the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Wilshire was formed in 1997 by the former Rutgers University professor Joe San Filippo and today has about 10 employees. Evonik says the purchase will add cosmetic ingredients such as plant-derived cholesterol that replaces animal-originated material.