Janssen And Johnson & Johnson Innovation Announce First-Of-Its-Kind Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Alliance With The Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai

SPRING HOUSE, Pa. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Janssen Biotech, Inc. ("Janssen") and Johnson & Johnson Innovation announced today the establishment of a research alliance with The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ("Mount Sinai") to advance the scientific understanding of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the discovery of next generation therapeutic solutions.  Scientists from the Janssen Immunology Therapeutic Area and researchers from Mount Sinai will work in partnership to investigate disease triggers, identify new opportunities for therapeutic interventions and establish diagnostics to facilitate precision medicine and predictive biomarkers.  The first-of-its-kind industry and academic partnership brings together Janssen research and development capabilities with an early-stage life science investment through the Johnson & Johnson Innovation center in Boston and Mount Sinai's expertise in computational biology, and clinical and translational research in IBD. 

"The collaboration with Mount Sinai underscores a shared commitment to further understand inflammatory bowel disease biology and advance patient care through the discovery of novel therapeutic solutions," said Miguel S. Barbosa, Ph.D., Vice President, Head of Immunology Research & Scientific Partnership Strategy, Janssen Research & Development, LLC.  "By bringing together two excellent scientific teams with a shared long-term vision to improve the health of individuals living with IBD, we will harness the joint expertise and capabilities to deepen the scientific understanding of the disease and deliver future innovative medicines and co-diagnostics."

"Research alliances such as these, managed by the team at Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, allow us to develop, patent, license, and translate laboratory breakthroughs into clinical applications," said Dennis Charney, M.D., Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center.  "The strength of Janssen for therapies in immune-related diseases is an ideal match for our own clinical and research expertise in inflammatory bowel disease."

The collaboration will focus on building a Molecular Interaction Network of Disease (MIND) in IBD with the breadth and depth to yield high confidence therapeutic hypotheses to be tested in vitro and in vivo.  Using preclinical models, clinical study data and patient samples, a dedicated group of Janssen and Mount Sinai researchers, computational biologists and translational medicine scientists will develop clinical methodologies to test hypotheses and identify potential therapeutic candidates. 

This unique industry and academic research alliance brings together scientific and institutional resources from Mount Sinai, Janssen and Johnson & Johnson Innovation representing each organization's deep commitment and investment in transforming the treatment of IBD.  Detailed terms of the agreement are not being disclosed, but a successful collaboration may represent a multi-million dollar commitment each year over a four-year period in the pursuit of next generation therapeutic solutions for IBD.     

"The research alliance with Mount Sinai is representative of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation strategy—catalyze early-stage innovation through a regional network of collaborators to advance breakthrough science into new healthcare solutions," said Robert Urban, Ph.D., Head of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation center in Boston.  "By connecting with leading experts who are based in universities, academic centers or biotechnology companies, we are eager to help these researchers bring their discoveries into the lives of patients suffering from high unmet medical needs, like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis."

As many as 1.4 million people in the United States and more than five million people worldwide are affected by IBD, chronic, immune-mediated digestive diseases that include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).¹  The symptoms of Crohn's disease and UC can be severe and progress to the need for surgical intervention.  Although progress has been made in research and treatment over the years, researchers do not know what causes IBD.²

About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson are dedicated to addressing and solving the most important unmet medical needs of our time, including oncology (e.g., multiple myeloma and prostate cancer), immunology (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, IBD and psoriasis), neuroscience (e.g., schizophrenia, dementia and pain), infectious disease (e.g., HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and tuberculosis), and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes).

Driven by our commitment to patients, we develop sustainable, integrated healthcare solutions by working side-by-side with healthcare stakeholders, based on partnerships of trust and transparency.  To learn more, visit www.janssen.com. 

About Johnson & Johnson Innovation
The Boston Innovation Center is part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, a division of Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation.  Johnson & Johnson Innovation focuses on accelerating early innovation and enhancing opportunities for collaboration and investment across Johnson & Johnson's global healthcare businesses.  Johnson & Johnson Innovation provides scientists, entrepreneurs and emerging companies focused on early-stage opportunities a one-stop access to science and technology experts who can facilitate collaborations across the pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics and consumer companies of Johnson & Johnson.  Johnson & Johnson Innovation includes local deal-making capabilities with the flexibility to adapt deal structures to match early-stage opportunities and establish novel collaborations that speed development of those innovations to solve unmet needs in patients. More information can be found here: www.jnjinnovation.com.

Forward-looking Statements
(This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events.  If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Biotech, Inc., any of the other Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation and/or Johnson & Johnson.  Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; economic factors, such as interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approvals; challenges to patents; changes in behavior and spending patterns or financial distress of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to governmental laws and regulations and domestic and foreign health care reforms; trends toward health care cost containment; and increased scrutiny of the health care industry by government agencies.  A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Exhibit 99 of Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2012. Copies of this Form 10-K, as well as subsequent filings, are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson.  The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation and Johnson & Johnson do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments.)

References:

1.     About Us. World IBD Day. Available at: http://www.worldibdday.org/aboutus.html. April 2013.
2.     World IBD Day. About Us. Available at: http://ibdday.bvsalud.org/. Accessed April 2013. 

SOURCE Janssen Biotech, Inc.