Johnson & Johnson CEO: “We’re in the Golden Era of Medical Innovation”

Innovation & R&D - The US leads the world in life science innovation due to a combination of factors including investment in basic research, venture capital, strong companies, and protection of intellectual property [3][5] - Big Pharma increasingly relies on external innovation, with internal drug development accounting for less than 30% of FDA approvals between 2015 and 2021 [11] - AI and machine learning are accelerating drug discovery by enabling the screening of 1.7 million compounds in approximately 5-10 days, significantly reducing the time required for identifying lead compounds [3][14][15] Investment & Finance - In 2021, the pharmaceutical industry invested over $80 billion annually in R&D, a tenfold increase over 10 years, representing approximately 25% of pharma companies' revenues [4] - Venture capital firms investing in biotech require patience, with a time horizon of 10-15 years to see a drug from discovery to commercialization [13] - New Jersey offers an R&D tax credit to attract big pharma companies and has a program allowing early-stage life sciences companies to monetize their net operating losses [20][21] Company Strategy & Focus - Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has invested $50 billion in R&D and M&A since the beginning of last year [10] - J&J actively scouts the world for promising innovations and technologies to leverage its scale in research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization [6] - J&J is developing an oral medicine, icotrokinra, to treat plaque psoriasis, which is expected to be a significant breakthrough and contribute to growth in the second half of the decade [7][9]