Johnson & Johnson Innovation has opened its California Innovation Center, one of four regional hubs. The goal of the California Innovation Center is to advance healthcare through science and technology collaborations with regional innovators for diverse early stage innovation projects.
 
“The California Innovation Center is part of J&J’s global innovation strategy to advance human health by collaborating with the world’s leading scientists and entrepreneurs,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., J&J chief scientific officer and worldwide chairman, Pharmaceuticals. “We look forward to deepening connections within the west coast life science ecosystem and nurturing healthcare innovation as well as economic prosperity in the region.”
 
Along with the opening of the CA center, J&J Innovation entered its first collaboration and new initiatives in the area. Second Genome has entered an agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. as part of a research collaboration with J&J Innovation and its California Innovation Center and Janssen R&D, LLC, to explore microbiome mechanisms and their potential role in ulcerative colitis.
 
The company also launched the J&J Innovator Program, an initiative designed to foster idea generation and company formation around breakthrough innovations. The program provides funding, resources and guidance to entrepreneurs who have revolutionary science at the earliest stages of development. David H. Kirn, M.D. is the first to be funded through the program. Dr. Kirn is the founder of Jennerex, a private clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of targeted oncolytic immunotherapies for solid tumors.
 
Additionally, through a collaboration between J&J Innovation and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), Janssen Labs is expanding into the San Francisco Bay Area through an exclusive agreement to create a 5,000-sq.-ft. Janssen Labs @QB3 within QB3’s 24,000-sq.-ft. facility. Companies will have access to QB3’s resources, which include legal and business advisors, assistance in grant writing for federal Small Business Innovation Research funds, and access to high-end equipment and technology in University of California, San Francisco facilities.