Janssen Research & Development, LLC, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson has launched three new research platforms focused on disease prevention, disease interception, and the microbiome, The new teams will collaborate closely with Janssen's five areas of therapeutic focus (cardiovascular and metabolism, immunology, infectious diseases and vaccines, neuroscience, and oncology) as well as external partners.

“The future of healthcare will increasingly depend on identifying and correctly interpreting the earliest signals of disease susceptibility, preventing or intercepting disease before it even begins, and using the latest scientific insights from promising, emerging fields like the microbiome, to transform medicine,” said William N. Hait, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Janssen Research & Development,” in a statement. “By advancing science in these areas, our new research platforms will strive to deliver the next generation of transformational medical innovation. We believe the positive impact on people, communities, governments, medicine and the global economy will be dramatic and far-reaching.”

The Janssen Prevention Center (JPC) will focus on the prevention of chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases, which increasingly impact aging populations and burden healthcare systems globally. Headquartered in the Netherlands with laboratories in the Netherlands (Leiden), the US.(La Jolla, California) and the UK (London), the JPC will focus on vaccine discovery expertise and the capabilities of the former Crucell Vaccine Institute, a group formed in 2011 following the acquisition of Crucell by Johnson & Johnson.

The Disease Interception Accelerator (DIA) is a new, incubator-like group based in the US (Raritan, New Jersey), which will address the root causes of disease. The DIA will work to understand disease susceptibility, risk assessment, and the origins of disease, such as genetic predisposition, environmental exposure, and phenotypic alterations. It will use a combination of traditional pharmaceutical and other, non-pharmaceutical approaches to intercept disease progression for at-risk populations.

The Janssen Human Microbiome Institute (JHMI) will focus on an emerging area of science to better understand the role of microbiomes and the diverse population of bacteria living in and on the human body to develop pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. The JHMI will foster external collaborations through anchor research centers in the US (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Europe (Beerse, Belgium).

Source: Johnson & Johnson