John Reed

Head of R&D at Johnson & Johnson. Presented at Session II on J&J’s “disease-area strongholds” model and persistence-driven pipeline.

Key Arguments

• Disease-area strongholds (15 across oncology, immunology, neuroscience) — long-term domain depth beats opportunism
• Almost every product he showed started as a near-failure: Darzalex’s dose, Spravato’s first two negative phase 3s, four years of chemistry behind Icotide
• Pharma-plus-medtech opens design space (intravesical devices) others structurally can’t access

Key Programs Discussed

Multiple Myeloma — average life expectancy from 2 to nearly 20 years

• Velcade → Darzalex → Carvykti → Tecvayli + Talvey
• Tecvayli’s second-line data (~85% long-term survival): FDA 55-day approval via Commissioner’s National Priority Review Voucher

Prostate Cancer

• Pasritamig (KLK2×CD3 bispecific) and RIPTAC platform

Bladder Cancer

• Inlexzo — intravesical drug-eluting device

Immunology & Neuroscience

• Icotrokinra (Icotide), Spravato, Caplyta

“I doubt AI on its own would have come up with RIPTAC. But ask this audience for creative uses of it and you’d get a hundred great ideas.”