J&J to team up with government for TB drug

Global pharma major Johnson & Johnson will be working with the Centre for treatment of tuberculosis (TB).

The modalities of collaboration were being worked out to bring the drug to India, Paul Stoffels, Chairman - Pharmaceuticals & Executive Vice-President, Johnson & Johnson, told newspersons on the sidelines of BioAsia 2017 being held here on Tuesday.

The drug is Bedaquiline.

“It is the first molecule developed for TB in the last 40 years. It is very impactful with multi-drug therapy...,'' he said.

India was “well-positioned'' for drug development in terms of the availability of skills and research institutions, among others, he added.

He praised the Indian generic companies for their significant role in making HIV patients in Africa to gain 10 years of life.

New platforms

Earlier, in his keynote address, Stoffels said work was on in tech platforms such as immuno-oncology, cell therapy, gene therapy, microbime, and molecular diagnostics.

His company now has 15 ongoing new platforms for drug development out of which seven are external and eight internal. The future of medical care will be 'bright' with new technology platforms gaining ground.

On Johnson & Johnson's innovation landscape, he said there were 140 molecules in different stages of development.

It has four innovation centres in addition to seven incubation labs in the US and Canada with over 140 companies in residence and 27 programmes to collaborate. “Our goal is to develop a vaccine for HIV," he said..