Johnson & Johnson Innovation (USA) announced on December 5, 2017, the upcoming launch of JLABS @ Shanghai in China, in collaboration with the Shanghai Municipal Government, Pudong New Area Government, and Shanghai Pharma Engine.
JLABS @ Shanghai will be the first J&J’s incubator location established outside of North America. It will support up to 50 healthcare and life sciences start-ups to help them grow within the healthcare ecosystem. The 4,400-square-meter facility will be located in the city’s Hi-Tech Park and will open in the second quarter of 2019.
JLABS @ Shanghai: an innovation hub with cutting-edge equipment
The lab will accommodate up to 50 life sciences and healthcare start-ups, both single entrepreneurs and larger companies, specialized on innovations across the entire healthcare market, especially pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer.
JLABS @ Shanghai will provide resident innovators with a capital efficient and flexible platform that includes a vast network that will enable them to accelerate the delivery of life-saving, life-enhancing health and wellness solutions to patients in China and around the world.
Access to a digital prototype lab and major market players
The selected star-ups will have many of the advantages of being part of an established innovation hub, such as access to:
- a cutting-edge, modular and scalable lab space, equipment, with access to scientific, industry and capital funding experts;
- a JLABS device and digital prototype lab that will provide entrepreneurs with access to highly specialized tools as well as skill-building programs to design and develop smart health technologies;
- talent and mentors, large existing firms and research universities;
- capital and convergence opportunities with other sectors.
Applications to join JLABS @ Shanghai and other JLABS sites are currently being accepted from biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and digital health companies. For more information: Jlabs.jnjinnovation.com.
A lab that will contribute to Shanghai and Pudong’s development
« Through JLABS, we can drive innovation across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer healthcare and have a positive impact on the development of Pudong as an industrial leader and of Shanghai as an innovation hub for science and technology, » said Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director general, science & technology and economic development division, Pudong New Area Government (source: Prnewswire.com).
J&J’s investments in China: a long-term vision
JLABS has facilities in San Diego, San Francisco (two sites), Houston, Boston and plans to open a hub in New York in 2018. It recently opened the first side outside of the U.S. in Toronto (Canada).
Interesting regulatory changes are coming
Massive regulatory changes recently announced by the Chinese government are considered a new boost for the pharmaceutical sector in the country, which is already the second largest in the world.
Foreign drugs are expected to enter the country in larger scale in the coming years, a move that bio-pharmaceutical companies like J&J are likely to benefit from.
A few years ago, J&J’s CEO Alex Gorsky said he saw a « new horizon » in China despite slowing growth and regulatory hurdles, adding that his company was taking the long-term view for investment in the region (source : Fiercebiotech.com).
« China, and Shanghai specifically, have become a global hotspot for healthcare innovation, » said Vladimir Makatsaria, Johnson & Johnson China Group chairman. « JLABS @ Shanghai will join our Asia Pacific Innovation Center, Janssen China Discovery Labs, Emerging Markets Innovation Center, and other initiatives across our Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies’ China organization in creating a Shanghai-based hub that strengthens our ability to meet the rapidly evolving healthcare needs of people in China and around the world. »
Toward a JLABS in the UK?
JLABS @ Shanghai will be the ninth JLABS location to open globally. The US company has chosen the Chinese city as its first port of call, forgoing official sites in Europe. Last week, The Telegraph announced that J&J were dropping plans to open a U.K. JLABS center, something however the company strongly refutes to FierceBiotech.com, without providing more details.