Johnson & Johnson Launches Shanghai R&D Hub And Announces New Alliances

Johnson & Johnson Launches Shanghai R&D Hub, New Alliances

October 29, 2014

By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Johnson & Johnson Innovation , an early-stage life sciences accelerator, announced today that it was opening its Asia Pacific Innovation Center, located in Shanghai. In addition to the China location, it will have satellites in Singapore, Australia and Japan.

The accelerator’s Innovation Centers have developed more than 80 collaborations, including the six in in today’s announcement. “We are excited to launch the Asia Pacific Innovation Center which builds on the momentum of our Centers in London, California and Boston,” said J&J Chief Scientific Officer and Worldwide Chairman of Pharmaceuticals Paul Stoffels in a statement. “Our goal is to collaborate with the best minds in the region to advance new technologies and deliver transformative solutions for the people of China and Asia Pacific at large, and throughout the world.”

The new collaborations include:

  • Janssen-Cilag Pty Limited in Janssen, Australia and J&J Innovation have created a partnership with Queensland’s James Cook University to study inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) utilizing proteins produced by hookworms.

  • Janssen Australia and J&J Innovation have extended a collaboration that studies spider venom to identify compounds that might be used for pain treatment. This is with the University of Queensland(UoQ).

  • J&J Innovation has an agreement with China Pharmaceutical University for several projects in its Consumer and Pharmaceutical businesses. Several projects focus on new functional foods for improved health, topical products for itch relief, pain relief and nasal decongestants. Another projects is studying an antibody-drug conjugate for possible treatment for solid tumors.

  • An R&D partnership with Peking University to study compounds to be used for central nervous system disorders.

  • A collaboration with Zhejiang University to study human lactate receptor GPR81 for metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, obesity and diabetes.

  • The Asia Pacific Innovation Center will create offices in Suzhou BioBAY, a 500-company incubator for drug discovery, biotech, IVD, medical devices and nanotechnology.

  • “The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies has a long standing presence in China extending back almost 30 years,” said Jesse Wu, Chairman of J&J China in a statement. “Our on the ground presence across the region allows us to work side by side with our partners with speed, agility, and insight to translate innovations into new products.”

    Earlier this month Johnson & Johnson announced its was expanding its life science incubators into Texas. The new facility, J-Labs, will be located within the Innovation Institute at Houston’s Texas Medical Center (TMC). It also has similar programs in San Diego and Boston.

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