Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced the opening of the Johnson & Johnson California Innovation Center, one of four regional hubs being established in the world's leading life science innovation hotspots. A part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the goal of the California Innovation Center is to advance healthcare by catalyzing collaborations in science and technology between regional innovators and the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies across a diverse spectrum of early stage innovation.
The California Innovation Center is home to a team of business, science and transaction experts who are focused on identifying and building novel early stage collaborations with emerging companies, entrepreneurs and academic centers across western North America. This team has full and broad deal-making capabilities, with flexibility to adapt deal structures to match early-stage needs and opportunities.
"The California Innovation Center is part of Johnson & Johnson's global innovation strategy to advance human health by collaborating with the world's leading scientists and entrepreneurs," said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer and Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals. "We look forward to deepening connections within the west coast life science ecosystem and nurturing healthcare innovation as well as economic prosperity in the region."
In conjunction with today's grand opening of the California Innovation Center, Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced its first collaboration and new initiatives in the region:
Signed Collaboration Deal with Second Genome – Second Genome has entered into an agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. as part of a research collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and its California Innovation Center and the Immunology Therapeutic Area within Janssen Research & Development, LLC, to explore microbiome mechanisms and their potential role in ulcerative colitis, with the goal of advancing disease understanding and novel drug targets. The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies are committed to playing a leadership role in fostering scientific investigation in the role of the microbiome in human health and harnessing its potential to deliver innovative treatments.
Launched Johnson & Johnson Innovator Program – This new initiative is designed to foster idea generation and company formation around breakthrough innovations with the potential to transform patient healthcare in areas of interest to Johnson & Johnson. The program provides funding, resources and guidance to experienced entrepreneurs who have revolutionary science at the seed stage of development. David H. Kirn, M.D. is the first entrepreneur funded through the Johnson & Johnson Innovator Program. Dr. Kirn is a clinician-scientist and medical oncologist who trained at UCSF and Harvard. He is the founder of Jennerex, a private clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of targeted oncolytic immunotherapies for solid tumors.
Expanded Janssen Labs to Bay Area – Through a collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), Janssen Labs is expanding into the San Francisco Bay Area. Johnson & Johnson Innovation will have an exclusive agreement to create a 5,000 square foot Janssen Labs @QB3 within QB3's 24,000-square foot incubator space located at 953 Indiana St., with an option to expand. This marks the first geographical expansion of Janssen Labs, the San Diego-based life science incubator that is currently home to 29 companies. Janssen Labs @QB3 will have a similar open-innovation, no-strings-attached approach like the flagship Janssen Labs in San Diego. Janssen Labs @QB3 will identify innovators who are developing promising science to address important unmet medical needs for designation of space. Companies will have access to QB3's resources, which include legal and business advisors, assistance in grant writing for federal Small Business Innovation Research funds, and access to high-end equipment and technology in University of California, San Francisco facilities.
"Johnson & Johnson has a proud and productive history in California through our various operating companies throughout the state," said Diego Miralles, M.D., Head, Johnson & Johnson California Innovation Center. "Today, we are pleased to deepen our commitment to supporting the state's strong life science ecosystem by opening the California Innovation Center to serve as a single point of entry for innovators to efficiently and creatively explore relationships and investment opportunities across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies."
Representatives of Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, the venture capital subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, are co-located at the California Innovation Center to identify and invest in external opportunities. Since its inception in 1973, JJDC has been among the top-tier healthcare venture capital companies investing in and developing new businesses that create leading technologies, products and services.
The California Innovation Center joins more than a dozen facilities of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in the state, including Acclarent, Advanced Sterilization Products, BabyCenter, Biosense Webster, Codman Neurovascular, Cordis, Mentor, Neutrogena, Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy R&D, Janssen Labs, Janssen Research & Development and LifeScan. Approximately 20,000 jobs are supported by Johnson & Johnson in California, either directly or indirectly.
In addition to the new Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center in California, a center in London opened in March, a center will open this summer in Boston, and one is planned for Shanghai by the end of the year. Each city was selected for its robust life sciences community, which provides a rich environment for identifying investment, in-licensing and collaboration opportunities.
Johnson & Johnson California Innovation Center is located at 99 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, California, 94025. For more information on the new innovation centers please contact jnjinnovation@its.jnj.com.
About Johnson & Johnson
Caring for the world, one person at a time...inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. We embrace research and science – bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Our approximately 128,000 employees at more than 275 Johnson & Johnson operating companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day throughout the world.
For more information, visit www.jnj.com.
About Johnson & Johnson Innovation
The California Innovation Center is part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, a division of Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation. Johnson & Johnson Innovation focuses on accelerating early innovation and enhancing opportunities for collaboration and investment across Johnson & Johnson's global healthcare businesses. Johnson & Johnson Innovation provides scientists, entrepreneurs and emerging companies focused on early-stage opportunities a one-stop access to science and technology experts who can facilitate collaborations across the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics and consumer companies of Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Innovation includes local deal-making capabilities with the flexibility to adapt deal structures to match early-stage opportunities and establish novel collaborations that speed development of those innovations to solve unmet needs in patients. More information can be found here: www.jnjinnovation.com.