J&J Opens Asia Pacific Innovation Center
Johnson & Johnson has opened the Asia Pacific Innovation Center, located in Shanghai with satellites in Singapore, Australia, and Japan. The Asia Pacific Innovation Center extends the network of Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centers, which include centers in London, California, and Boston. Asia Pacific Center will identify and develop promising early-stage opportunities across the company's three areas of focus: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics and consumer healthcare products.
Johnson& Johnson Innovation is working with key stakeholders in China including the government, industry, and academic partners to accelerate innovation for China and around the world. Through the Innovation Center, regionally based entrepreneurs and scientists in Asia Pacific have one-stop access to customized support for promising early-stage ideas and technologies, including funding and early-stage and commercial expertise.
The Asia Pacific Innovation Center has already facilitated several new collaborations in both Australia and China. Janssen-Cilag Pty Limited (Janssen Australia), and Johnson & Johnson Innovation have established a collaboration with Queensland's James Cook University to explore whether proteins produced by hookworms could provide effective treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The research seeks to harness the ability of hookworms to regulate the human immune response, which is what enables their survival in a human host, for advancing treatments Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Janssen Australia and Johnson & Johnson Innovation have extended an existing collaboration with the University of Queensland on a spider venom project to identify peptides as potential treatments for pain. The collaboration seeks to develop a more targeted approach to pain management. An individual peptide derived from spider venom is under investigation for its ability to target a single ion channel or enzyme, with potential to block pain. This project was awarded a grant from the Australian Research Council.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation has established a broad collaboration with China Pharmaceutical University on several projects across its Consumer and Pharmaceutical businesses. The projects include a research and discovery collaboration around a novel antibody-drug conjugate to treat solid tumors as well as collaborations to explore new functional foods for improved health, the development of new topical products for fast-relief of itch and pain and long-acting pain relief, and a long-lasting and fast acting nasal decongestant. The University is supporting the project through matching funds.
Janssen Research & Development, LLC and Johnson & Johnson Innovation have established an R&D collaboration with Peking University to identify agonists and antagonists for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to help develop novel central nervous system medicines. GPCRs interact with proteins in a cell's plasma membrane and play a role in many biological processes. An imbalance in GPCR signalling may be implicated in cognitive and other neurologic diseases. Through the collaboration, Peking University will screen candidates using their novel assay.
Janssen Research & Development and Johnson & Johnson Innovation have established an R&D collaboration with Zhejiang University to elucidate the physiological and pathological role of human lactate receptor GPR81 in the regulation of metabolism and metabolic syndrome such as dyslipidemia, obesity, and diabetes.
The Asia Pacific Innovation Centre will establish a regular presence in Suzhou BioBAY, an incubator with more than 400 companies in the areas of drug discovery, biotech, in vitro diagnostics, medical devices, and nanotechnology. The office will function as an extension of the Asia Pacific Innovation Center to work with academics and entrepreneurs on a more local basis. The Innovation Center Partnering Offices are part of a broader strategy to interact more directly with life science clusters around the world.
Source: Johnson & Johnson