Discovering and developing innovative medicines and therapies that help confront the world’s unmet medical needs. That may seem like a bold goal, but Johnson & Johnson is on a journey toward reaching it.
Since its founding in 1886, the company has leveraged deep scientific expertise to develop healthcare innovations with a relentless focus on the people who stand to benefit most: the patients themselves. Here are five ways Johnson & Johnson is innovating across multiple therapeutic areas.
1.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an autoimmune condition that encompasses ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease, affects upward of 10 million patients globally. With these chronic conditions, the immune system attacks the digestive lining, resulting in chronic inflammation that can lead to lasting damage in the gut if left untreated.
Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new treatment for adults with moderately to severely active UC. Then earlier this year, the therapy was also approved for adults with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. The medicine works by attaching to a specific protein in the body that’s overactive in people with IBD. By binding to this protein, the medicine helps reduce inflammation that can contribute to IBD symptoms.
On the horizon: Johnson & Johnson is continuing to focus on the research and development of innovative therapies for people living with IBD who are experiencing persistent and debilitating symptoms, as well as additional options for those whose disease is difficult to treat and other patient populations. Co-antibody (combining multiple biologics) and oral therapies that address the disease-driving pathways in IBD are being evaluated.
2.
The stats around lung cancer are sobering. The most common cancer worldwide, it takes more lives in the U.S. each year than breast, colon and prostate cancer combined. A particular type known as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for around 85% of all lung cancer cases; only 20% of people with NSCLC survive beyond five years. Johnson & Johnson is on a mission to change that.
A combination therapy developed by the company has been FDA-approved for patients with various stages of a form of genetically defined NSCLC. In patients who have not received prior (first-line) therapy, the combination is approved as a chemotherapy-free option, preserving chemo for later lines of treatment.
On the horizon: A version of this therapy in other tumor types with high unmet need—including colorectal and head and neck cancers—is being evaluated. The goal: Bring more treatment options to more people facing serious diseases.
3.
For nearly 70 years, the company has pioneered innovative medicines that have transformed treatment for people living with neuropsychiatric disorders. Building on this legacy, Johnson & Johnson recently strengthened its neuroscience product offerings with the acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc.
A once-daily oral medication, currently being used to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, is now being reviewed by the FDA for potential use as an add-on treatment for people with clinical depression—also known as major depressive disorder (MDD)—who aren’t sufficiently helped by currently available therapies. If approved, it may be an option for seven in 10 MDD patients who experience lingering depressive symptoms while on an antidepressant (typically an SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; or SNRI, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor).
On the horizon: With the potential to reset treatment expectations in depression and address residual symptoms for two-thirds of patients, this therapy may become a new standard of care for adjunctive MDD treatment.
4.
Bladder cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide, impacting more than 1 million people across the globe each year, including those who are newly diagnosed, as well as those who are newly recurrent. In 2025, an estimated 84,000 new cases are expected in the U.S. alone.
Yet for people with certain types of bladder cancer, the standard of care hasn’t significantly changed in more than 40 years, leaving patients with few options apart from surgical bladder removal when initial therapy fails.
Part of the problem: Bladder cancer arises from the bladder lining, which makes it challenging to treat. Recently, the FDA approved a new option for patients with bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ. The new therapy is inserted into the bladder, extending local delivery of cancer medication right where it’s needed. It’s poised to transform how certain bladder cancers can be treated.
On the horizon: The treatment is being studied in additional bladder cancer patient populations and in earlier lines of therapy. The goal is to intervene earlier in the treatment journey, before patients are faced with life-altering decisions like bladder removal or long cycles of recurrence and retreatment.
5.
Living with a rare disease brings unique challenges, not only for the person diagnosed but also for their families and caregivers. Getting the right diagnosis can take years, and treatment options are often limited.
One example is myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoantibody disease in which harmful antibodies disrupt nerve-to-muscle communication, leading to severe and unpredictable muscle weakness. In its more severe form, generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), this weakness can become widespread and unpredictable, impacting essential daily functions such as speaking, swallowing and even breathing.
Standard therapies such as oral corticosteroids and broad immunosuppressants can help reduce gMG symptoms, but they also suppress the entire immune system, increasing vulnerability to infections and leading to long-term health concerns such as heart disease, weight gain and gastrointestinal complications.
A new treatment from Johnson & Johnson takes a more targeted approach. It blocks a protein called neonatal Fc receptor, which helps lower the level of immunoglobulin G, one of the root causes of autoantibody diseases—potentially without impacting other immune functions. First approved by the FDA earlier this year, the therapy has since received additional authorizations and is under regulatory review in countries around the world.
On the horizon: This treatment is being studied across multiple autoantibody diseases, including idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia and Sjögren’s disease. It’s also being investigated in hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn and fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia, alloantibody diseases in which maternal antibodies attack fetal or newborn cells—and where the treatment has the potential to revolutionize care.
