JLABS makes its mark on innovation in Houston, across the globe
Five years ago, Johnson & Johnson Innovation opened its first JLABS site, and this week, the company reported on its impact on innovation.
Here are some highlights from that report:
- $9.4 billion was secured by JLABS companies through financings and strategic relationships.
- Five IPOS, eight acquisitions and 71 deals with the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies have been completed by JLABS residents. 7 JLABS residents have collaborated with each other.
- More than 1,500 applications for residency have been received, indicating the need for this resource.
- Twenty-three percent of JLABS companies are led by a female CEO; 18 percent are led by under-represented ethnic minorities (for comparison, less than 1 percent of CEOs in the life sciences are women, and 8 percent of STEM companies have minority ownership. There is still much further to go, but this is a promising start, and is not by accident — JLABS has several pro-diversity policies in place, including a ban against all-male panels).
- More than 1,260 investor meetings have been facilitated.
- About 57,000 individuals have attended more nearly 850 educational events.
Here in Houston, Johnson & Johnson Innovation opened JLABS @ TMC in the Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute nearly two years ago. Today, there is 31 companies in residence and nine alumni companies.
What sets the TMC site apart from others is backing by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas. Four of the companies residing, or have resided in JLABS @ TMC received funding from CPRIT. That includes Salarius Pharmaceuticals and Beta Cat Pharmaceuticals, based on technology, both based on research by Sunil Sharma; ViraCyte, which develops cell therapies; and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, developing cellular immunotherapies.
In addition, the facility has the largest medical device prototyping lab of all the sites, and a high number of medical device companies.
JLABS @ TMC continues to play an important role in the TMC Innovation Institute. Many startups that graduated from the institute’s TMCx accelerator program advanced into an office in JLABS, while others who office in JLABS have taken advantage of the accelerator.
“Our wings expanded with JLABS,” William F. McKeon, president and CEO of the Texas Medical Center, said at a recent TMC Expert Forum.
And those wings continue to expand: In collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the TMC, Johnson & Johnson Medical Device Companies will officially unveil its Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center next month.
