Number of New Collaborations Announced by Johnson & Johnson Innovation

The company is focused on developing treatments for obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and rheumatoid arthritis.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced several additional collaborations, bringing the total of new strategic relationships established to date in 2017 to more than 20.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC “focuses on accelerating all stages of innovation worldwide and forming collaborations between entrepreneurs and Johnson & Johnson’s global healthcare businesses,” according to the company. Science and technology experts within J&J Innovation work with entrepreneurs and emerging companies to help bring new pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products to the market through collaboration with J&J’s various businesses. J&J Innovation consists of a number of different innovation centers, labs and incubators, plus business development teams created specifically to work collaboratively with other innovators.

The most recently announced collaborations will focus on the development of therapies for diseases “in urgent need of solutions” including obesity and related complications, such as type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as the development of 3-D printing for use in the creation of tailored health solutions. In addition, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies will be sharing its molecular compound libraries with researchers developing new treatments for diseases common in emerging countries.

“Fulfilling the unmet needs facing patients today requires continued investment in the ideas that could become the healthcare solutions that improve and extend patients’ lives in the future,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson. “Today’s collaborations illustrate Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s continued commitment to identifying and advancing the most innovative ideas–wherever they originate–that could transform patients’ lives, particularly those in most need in developing parts of the world.”

The new collaborations include:

  • A partnership between Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine to identify pathways and mechanisms causing obesity and related issues such as type 2 diabetes, NASH, chronic kidney disease (CKD), metabolic liver diseases and others. The collaboration will also seek to identify clinically useful biomarkers, therapeutic targets and potential surgical (gastric bypass) approaches.
  • A partnership between Janssen Biotech and Monash University to develop next-generation biologic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.
  • A partnership between Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. and Inkbit Corporation, a 3-D printing startup spun out of MIT, to “optimize and validate” Inkbit’s multi-material 3-D printing technology for highly complex consumer products containing integrated electronics.
  • Partnerships between Johnson & Johnson Vision Care and the J&J Innovation Center in Boston with the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada to develop contact lenses with improved visual performance combined with other health benefits.
  • A partnership between Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc. and SLIPS Technologies to apply its surface coating technology to improve manufacturing efficiencies.

In addition, Clarity Genomics, a company developing a platform for studying human microbiome-host interactions, is joining the JLINX incubator. The company applies the generated learnings to biomarket discovery and patient stratification.

“Our unique approach to creative deal making has helped us build one of the most robust innovation portfolios in the industry, and through these collaborations we are advancing transformative products that could improve or extend patients’ lives,” said Robert G. Urban, Ph.D., Global Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation. “The innovative ideas of our collaborators paired with the unmatched resources we can offer through Johnson & Johnson Innovation have advanced multiple programs to key inflection points, resulting in acquisition or in-licensing of several technologies.”

 

Cynthia A. Challener, Ph.D.

Dr. Challener is an established industry editor and technical writing expert in the areas of chemistry and pharmaceuticals. She writes for various corporations and associations, as well as marketing agencies and research organizations, including That’s Nice and Nice Insight.

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