J&J to step up investment in R&D and training in China

William Hait, global head of research and development at Janssen, Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceuticals arm. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

Pharma giant inks deal with Shanghai hospital

Johnson & Johnson, the US pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products giant, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Ruijin Hospital to collaborate on translational research, or the turning of scientific findings into practical applications.

The MoU was agreed upon at the start of the month by Janssen Pharmaceutical, J&J's pharmaceuticals arm, at the opening of the National Translational Medicine Center at Ruijin Hospital. The collaboration will center on bringing some of the best science and technology to China, said William Hait, global head, research and development at Janssen.

He said Janssen's role is likely to be in the form of providing diagnostic devices in developing molecular biology techniques, and training staff in product design and clinical research at the hospital.

The agreement could be the first of other such collaborations by Janssen with hospitals and universities in China in future, Hait said, which will help "translate discoveries into medicines".

The Shanghai research center at Ruijin is expected to have around 300 beds for clinical research and its work is likely to be focused on tumors, cardiovascular disease and metabolic diseases, among others.

Janssen/Johnson & Johnson is now putting the finishing touches to its own fourth innovation center, also in Shanghai. Its three others are in San Francisco; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and London.

Hait said the company's business development group also has possible biomedical sector acquisition targets in mind in China, while emphasizing the focus of its overall China Innovation Strategy remains on "radically improving benefits for Chinese patients".

China's stock of innovative startup biotechnology companies is growing, he added, helped considerably by returning Chinese who have experience of working with pharmaceutical majors in the West.

Interest in the sector is also attracting the increased attention of a growing number of venture capitalists, he said, who are starting to understand the sector better.

But he said the level of innovation in developing specialist, rather than generic drugs in China, is still at "a very early stage".

Last week J&J reported impressive third-quarter earnings figures, dominated by its pharmaceutical sales, which climbed 18 percent to $8.3 billion, following a 21 percent gain in the second quarter. Total sales rose 5 percent during the period to $18.47 billion.

The company's pharmaceutical R&D spend last year was about 5.81 billion pounds ($9.3 billion) out of the total spend of 8.18 billion pounds, a 6.8 percent growth over 2012.

In April this year, Janssen announced it was building a $300 million supply chain production base in the high-tech development zone in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, which is expected to be operational in 2018.

With fully automated operations and electronic recording for safety and quality, the plant is expected to reach a full future capacity of 4 billion tablets and capsules and up to 57 million tubes of creams.

Globally, Janssen has fine-tuned its portfolio of drugs from targeting around 33 diseases a decade ago, to a core of around 10 that Hait said were its "disease area strongholds", based on compelling science that was emerging around the world that "we thought could translate into products".

The company's three innovation centers have signed 70 collaboration deals in the past year, with academics, entrepreneurs and scientists around the world.

According to Hait, the company would be focusing on developing drugs and treatments aimed at four specific areas in China. They are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders, hematological malignancies (including leukemia, lymphomas, and myelomas), and hepatitis.

Hait said that with its Chinese innovation plan now firmly in place, "we are looking at extraordinary growth over the next decade, and I expect our investment to double in that time".