Janssen, working together toward healthier future

The China International Import Expo is being hailed for bringing more opportunities to carry out in-depth conversation with governments, enterprises and other stakeholders and jointly discuss the development of the health care industry. Xi’an Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, is very pleased to showcase innovative products and technologies to the world, and it is ready to take a new step in pharmaceutical manufacturing and help serve the rapidly expanding needs of China.

“Since our founding in 1985, Xi’an Janssen has strived to be a leader in China’s health care industry,” Asgar Rangoonwala, President of Xi’an Janssen and member of the Johnson & Johnson China President’s Council, said. “Since reform and opening, we are continuing to build on the long, proud heritage in China, and remains committed to delivering transformational health care product and service that address unmet needs, to patients and consumers in China. We now feel that China is poised to transform health care globally, as a confluence of factors — investment, artificial intelligent, cloud computing, big data and far-sighted government policies — are creating an environment where innovation will improve health outcomes and quality of life.”

Rangoonwala added that “we hope to capitalize on our more than 30 years of development in China, and that we can strengthen exchange and cooperation with a wide range of Chinese health care players. The expo will provide a wealth of insight into China’s plans to foster international trade and the internationalization of China’s market outlook.”

Johnson & Johnson is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly-based manufacturer of health care products.

By 2017, it had established 15 legal entities and set up production bases for all business areas, with over 10,000 employees spreading over 90 cities and contributed 75 billion yuan (US$10.7 billion) to China’s economy.

In 1985, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson first established its operations in China through a manufacturing facility — Xi’an Janssen. Now, it is one of the earliest multinational pharmaceutical companies that trailblazed in China.

Following an investment of US$397 million, the new Janssen supply chain innovation hub in Xi’an is set to open by the second half of 2019, setting a new standard in pharmaceutical manufacturing in China and helping to serve the rapidly expanding needs of the country and other markets in Asia Pacific.

“We hope to establish a brand-new pharmaceutical innovation model through international and local cooperation and jointly commit to the research and development of innovative drugs to promote the development of local new drug capabilities,” Rangoonwala told Shanghai Daily.

Shanghai’s aspiration for a global innovation hub has created a positive environment and ecosystem for innovation, and it has attracted talent as well. The city will undoubtedly be Xi’an Janssen’s bridge to further promote innovation in China.

The Janssen China Discovery Center, one of the R&D centers in Shanghai, moved into a new, significantly larger and well-equipped laboratory space in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park last year.

As one of Janssen’s four global R&D hubs, the Discovery Center is engaged in drug research for lung cancer, hepatitis B and hematologic malignancies. Its team of over 60 science professionals is running 10 projects with the aim of delivering one clinical candidate per year.

Meanwhile, the incubator platform of Johnson & Johnson, JLABS, will open in early 2019. As a collaboration with the city government and the Pudong New Area government, it will be the first JLABS location outside North America and will accommodate up to 50 life science and health care startups focused on innovations across the entire health care spectrum, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and the consumer sector.

By taking such efforts to aid entrepreneurship, Xi’an Janssen is pushing forward innovation strategies and forward-looking investment models to enable the discovery of game-changing medicines in China.

Historically, 50 percent of Janssen’s medicines have been the result of external collaboration. Rangoonwala said that it is vital for an innovation-oriented enterprise like Janssen to keep on spotting talent and seeking collective development on a global scale.

“We focus on the highest unmet medical needs, identify the best science — internal or external — and leverage the scale and reach of our global development organizations to develop, file and launch innovative medicines globally,” said Rangoonwala.

In recent years, the government has taken multiple positive steps to further open its doors to global investment and foster new models of pharmaceutical innovation. Rangoonwala expressed Janssen’s aspiration to become a leading global pharmaceutical innovator, who has already been seizing the opportunities provided by the recent reforms in China market.

“Since 2017, Xi’an Janssen has been granted 11 approvals for new products/indications and three line-extensions, for innovative products,” said Rangoonwala. “In 2018, Xi’an Janssen has made significant progress driven by a strong product pipeline and market expansion initiatives in 2018, and envisioning our strongest growth in the recent 20 years.”

As China transitions towards a new era under its Healthy China 2030 Initiative creating more opportunities and challenges for players in the industry, Janssen also seeks to strengthen its partnership with China by continuing to lay down strong roots through ongoing investment in its innovation and manufacturing facilities.

“The principles of ‘Healthy China 2030’ are in alignment with our global Healthy Society Initiative, which builds on our global reach and scale in order to support the development of a sustainable healthy future,” Rangoonwala said of his vision for the future Chinese health industry.

“It brings together our work in corporate citizenship, innovation, thought leadership and support of public health and health care workers.”