Johnson and Johnson announces new European collaborations

Johnson and Johnson has announced new collaboration agreements with a number of European healthcare and life science companies.

The group's Janssen division is to work with Effimune to develop a new treatment for immune-mediated diseases, while Janssen and Crucell will also be allying with DCPrime and CureVac on the creation of new vaccines.

Moreover, Johnson and Johnson has also agreed to make an investment in the Dutch biopharmaceutical company Merus to help it to develop new cancer therapies.

These collaborations will be based at the company's London Innovation Centre and were announced at an event attended by various UK life science leaders, as well as government science minister David Willetts and chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies.

Dr Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer and worldwide chairman of pharmaceuticals at Johnson and Johnson, said: "Investing in, collaborating with and providing support to early-stage companies and entrepreneurs is critical to our overall strategy of advancing innovation in life science hotspots throughout the world."

The innovation centre was opened in March 2013 and is focused on high-priority fields such as dementia, cancer, infectious diseases, immunology, biomarkers and surgical devices.