J&J unveils 1st satellite center for global health discovery in APAC

By Pankaj Singh 

Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a global pharmaceutical company, has recently unveiled its new J&J Satellite Center for Global Health Discovery at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

The center has been established jointly by the NUS (National University of Singapore) and Duke University as a graduate medical school and research powerhouse.

Being the very first of the J&J Centers in the APAC region, the Satellite Center at Duke-NUS intends to help in driving new solutions for addressing flaviviruses, which affect communities across the region, by bringing together the expertise and talent of the world’s major healthcare company with that of an important academic institution.

The launch of Satellite Center at Duke-NUS is taking place at the most critical time when more than 400 million people have been infected yearly with flaviviruses, and half of the global population is at risk, with Asia having around three-quarters of the global burden.

A heating planet means billions of people could be affected in the coming years as the animal vectors that possess flaviviruses spread beyond the tropical regions where they have thrived.

For those unaware, flaviviruses like Zika and Dengue cause significant illness and death and currently, no precise antiviral therapeutics are available for this ailment.

Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, PhD, M.D., Global Head, Global Public Health R&D, Janssen Research & Development, LLC, said that Singapore is said to be the major centre of the dengue threat along with a leading research and innovation hub, making Duke-NUS a natural match for the vision of addressing by advancing innovative science.

Together, firms can leverage the unique strengths for translating action in the lab into solutions at the last mile, which can aid in protecting people against the most significant health threats.

Source Credit - https://www.jnj.com/johnson-johnson-opens-first-satellite-center-for-global-health-discovery-in-asia-pacific-at-duke-nus-to-advance-dengue-research