Johnson & Johnson is launching a new incubation model in Europe designed to identify and nurture early-stage companies actively pursuing research with the potential to transform human health. The initiative, a collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Inc. (Janssen), will be called Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLINX (JLINX) will offer scientists and entrepreneurs access to venture funding, R&D expertise and state-of-the-art facilities. JLINX will have a particular focus on human microbiome research, alongside other areas of innovation in pharmaceuticals and cross-disciplinary healthcare solutions.
JLINX will be located in a fully dedicated facility on the Janssen campus in Beerse, Belgium, and will be managed through a close collaboration between Johnson & Johnson Innovation and bioqube ventures, which will provide independent oversight for venture funding and company selection. The new initiative is accepting applications immediately and will be fully operational by this summer.
Startups that receive investment through the JLINX initiative is venture-based and J&J will not hold any specific rights to commercialized products by virtue of the JLINX relationship. JLINX will launch with initial venture funding from Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC) with the aim to leverage these funds along with those from additional external investors.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation will work closely with bioqube ventures which will provide an experienced management team to run the day to day operations of JLINX, including managing the investment portfolio and relationships with external venture investors, involvement in identifying and securing new companies, and supporting the overall scale-up of the new initiative.
“We believe the benefits of this collaboration will go far beyond developing successful new businesses. This new initiative will fuel the evolution of new models for scientific collaboration across the healthcare industry and foster the development of transformational solutions to the people who need them,” said William N. Hait, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. “Through this initiative, we honor the legacy of Dr. Paul Janssen, who founded his business in Beerse based on the ideals of scientific entrepreneurism.”
JLINX complements and extends the Johnson & Johnson Innovation network of initiatives that includes four regional innovation centers (Asia Pacific, Boston, California and London), venture investing through JJDC, our JLABS no-strings attached incubators in North America (Boston, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco and opening this spring in Toronto), as well as Janssen Business Development for later stage mergers and acquisitions. The full suite of cross-sector tools provided by Johnson & Johnson Innovation are designed to identify, access and accelerate the best science – internal or external – at all stages of development and rapidly advance it through clinical research to reach patients in need.
