Recently, according to a number of people familiar with the matter,Johnson & Johnson will close a nearly 200,000-square-foot R&D facility in Brisbane, CaliforniaIncredibly, the base has been open for less than 18 months.
The nearly 200,000-square-foot facility, which officially opened in September 2022, will house up to 400 employees, more than double Johnson & Johnson's original R&D operations in the Bay Area. Since 2014, Johnson & Johnson's California-based Innovation Center has been fostering investments and collaborations with academic and industry partners in the Bay Area and Greater California ecosystems to accelerate early-stage healthcare innovation. The site brings together Janssen Research, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and Johnson & Johnson MedTech through product development.
A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson confirmed the plant's closure in a statement sent to foreign media on Sunday night, and said that the company's pharmaceutical and medical technology divisions "will continue to occupy an important position in California" and that Johnson & Johnson will choose to establish."New California Innovation Center
The decision to close the San Francisco Bay Campus (SFBC) was communicated to staff Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
"As the world's largest and most diversified healthcare products company, we are constantly evaluating our operations to invest in the future and deliver the greatest impact to patients," the spokesperson said. When asked how many employees were affected, the spokesperson did not respond immediately.
This is almost exactly the same statement that a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson made to The Business Times in March 2023, when the company underwent a major restructuring and shut down medical equipment and surgical robotic facilities in Redwood City and Santa Clara. Johnson & Johnson made the same statement a month before the layoffs at its Brisbane plant.
SFBC's grand opening in September 2022 more than doubled the company's R&D in the Bay Area at the time and planned to employ up to 400 people. The focus of the park is:Emerging genes and RNAs as well as retinal and infectious disease research.
But sources and internal company communications revealed that the company is slowly withdrawing from the priorities of the pharmaceutical division, particularly in the infectious diseases and vaccines division, where the base has opted to optimize assets during 2023 to personnel adjustments to carry out the downsizing of the R&D department. Dr. James Merson, the former head of the Infectious Diseases Division, was the original corporate leader at SFBC, but left the company in the first half of 2023 after the division merged with the vaccine team.
Within months of moving into the base, the base reportedly said it had suspended work on hepatitis B and hepatitis D**, halted all antimicrobial** work, and phased out work on COVID-19 and HIV vaccines, respectively.
When the park opened, top company executives expressed optimism about the value of the park, and Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato said in a press release at the time that the park represented a commitment to investing in state-of-the-art technology and new research.
In this campus, our exceptional teams will use their diverse experience and expertise to tackle society's biggest health challenges and create a better future for patients," he said. Johnson & Johnson said in its announcement that SFBC will "expand" the company's R&D capabilities and market presence.
Johnson & Johnson's Brisbane facility is located on the JLABS campus in South San Francisco, which serves as an incubator and accelerator for small biotech companies to grow. It is understood that the Bay Area is one of the most mature global innovation and entrepreneurship centers in the world. Launched in 2015, the Bay Area site is JLABS' first independent incubator.
Dramatically, Johnson & Johnson's R&D center was closed shortly after it underwent a rebranding following the spin-off of its consumer health division, KenVue. The name Janssen Pharmaceuticals no longer exists, replaced by Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.
In 2023, Johnson & Johnson's R&D totaled more than $15 billion, a record high, compared to $14.1 billion in 2022.
Johnson & Johnson Medtech's business segments cover the fields of surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and cardiovascular and specialty solutions globally, with major brands including: ethicon, depuy synthes, biosense webster, cerenovus, acclarent and acuvue.
On August 23, 2023, Johnson & Johnson officially announced the successful completion of the share exchange offer for the spin-off of Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue. From now on, Kenvue will operate completely independently. The two companies will continue to fulfill their unique mission to advance human health by providing innovative healthcare and consumer health products to patients and consumers around the world.
However, less than a month, on September 14, 2023, Xi'an Janssen announced that it would change its name to Johnson & Johnson Innovative Pharmaceutical.
This change is not limited to China, as Janssen is now J&J Innovative Medicine. "We've always been part of Johnson & Johnson, and now our image better communicates that. ”
Janssen was originally a Belgian company founded in 1953 by local chemist Paul Janssen. In October 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Johnson & Johnson, but retained its name and logo for decades since, until recently. In order to cooperate with the business integration of the parent company Johnson & Johnson, Xi'an Janssen will be renamed and integrated into Johnson & Johnson MedTech as a pharmaceutical division.
According to recent financial reports, among Johnson & Johnson's three main businesses in the world, the proportion of consumer health business has been decreasing year by year, and the proportion of sales will be about 15 by 202275%（149.US$500 million); In the same year, its medical device revenue accounted for 289% (US$27.4 billion), with the pharmaceutical business accounting for 55% (525.).$600 million). The pharmaceutical and medical device businesses have been the backbone of Johnson & Johnson's growth.
This series of changes means that Johnson & Johnson will further focus on medical devices and pharmaceuticals on a global scale.
It is reported that a company spokesperson contacted by foreign media on Sunday confirmed that the company plans to withdraw from the base, but said that the company will build a new early-stage California innovation center at a secret location in the Bay Area and "will maintain an active presence in an undisclosed location in the Bay Area." The spokesperson did not say how many people would lose their jobs when the program closed, or where the California Innovation Center would be located in the Bay Area, or the number of net jobs that would be lost or added as a result of the relocation.
And in the field of innovative research and development, Johnson & Johnson will continue to pay attention if it continues!
Article**: Medical Device Innovation Network
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