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   TECHNOLOGY   
      
   SCIENCE   
      
   Johnson & Johnson Bets On Alzheimer's Vaccine, Disease Prediction, Human   
   'Microbiome'   
      
   By  Amy Nordrum   
   @amynordrum a.nordrum@ibtimes.com   
   on February 24 2015 8:51 AM EST   
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   Alzheimer's Patient   
   Alzheimer's disease afflicts as many as 5 million Americans. A new research   
   initiative launched by Johnson & Johnson aims to create the first vaccine to   
   treat it. Pixabay   
   Johnson & Johnson, which recently announced its intent to break into three   
   rapidly emerging but unproven arenas of disease research, has begun unveiling   
   details of its plans. Earlier this month, the New Brunswick, New Jersey,   
   company said it aims to    
   create a vaccine for Alzheimer's, develop earlier detection of Type 1 diabetes   
   and use microbes in the human body to fight  illnesses -- a triad of lofty   
   goals, any one of which would require the sort of groundbreaking developments   
   that could keep a    
   company's research department busy for a decade. But executives offered little   
   beyond the intentions.   
      
   Bill Hait, head of research at Janssen Research & Development, a division of   
   Johnson & Johnson, has since told International Business Times that each of   
   the company's new priorities stemmed from Johnson & Johnson's 2020 plan, which   
   predicts that patients    
   will take a more active and personalized approach to health care within five   
   years. Hait also outlined the initiatives his company is pursuing to position   
   itself for this shift.   
      
   "By advancing science in these areas, our new research platforms will strive   
   to deliver the next generation of transformational medical innovation," Hait   
   said in the original statement. He calls the opportunity for treatments in   
   these areas "   
   unprecedented" and adds, "Whoever can step into that space, I like to say,   
   will be the next Johnson & Johnson."    
      
      
   The areas that Johnson & Johnson has identified could prove lucrative; the   
   market for Alzheimer's treatments is valued at $5 billion worldwide and   
   expected to grow to as much as $20 billion by 2020. By 2050, the number of   
   people with Alzheimer's disease    
   could triple from the approximately 44 million that suffer from it today. The   
   market for microbiome-related products, which use microbes in the human body   
   to fight illnesses, will also expand to $658 million by 2023, according to   
   MarketsandMarkets.   
      
   Meanwhile, scientists, medical professionals and other industry leaders also   
   see opportunities as medicine shifts toward preventive treatments and drug   
   companies attempt to engineer more personalized prescriptions -- two of the   
   global trends that Janssen    
   has said inform its strategy. However, it's unclear whether the resources   
   devoted to the company's new initiatives will be enough for its researchers to   
   meet the its ambitions over the next few years.   
      
   Alzheimer's Disease   
      
      
   As part of its new efforts, the company is creating a prevention center   
   focused on finding vaccines for ailments like Alzheimer's disease, heart   
   disease, autoimmune diseases and cancer which fall outside the realm of   
   infectious diseases that many people    
   are accustomed to being vaccinated against. "One of the reasons we landed on   
   Alzheimer's was that the emerging science is suggesting that the disease   
   spreads through the brain very much like an infectious disease," Hait says.   
      
   In order to succeed, Janssen's researchers must first learn more about the way   
   the disease spreads and then engineer a vaccine to combat it. With Janssen's   
   2011 acquisition of biotechnology firm Crucell, which developed vaccines for   
   cholera, hepatitis B    
   and the flu, the company is eager to capitalize on treatments for   
   non-infectious diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's that are only expected   
   to increase in an aging population.   
      
   A vaccine for Alzheimer's has long been hoped for, but a clinical trial for   
   one was cut short in 2002 when 6 percent of patients who received it suffered   
   inflammation in their brains. That vaccine worked on amyloid proteins, which   
   clump together in the    
   brains of Alzheimer's patients. This failure may make it more difficult for   
   engineers of any new Alzheimer's vaccine to win regulatory approval and public   
   confidence.    
      
      
   Janssen has its sights set on a vaccine produced by Switzerland-based AC   
   Immune that works in a slightly different way. It targets another protein   
   called tau thought to be more closely related to the spread of Alzheimer's   
   through the brain. Janssen    
   already struck a deal with its creator that gives Janssen full rights and   
   responsibility for developing the vaccine once it passes the first in three   
   stages of clinical trials.   
      
   "If they're trying to develop a tau vaccine, that is quite novel," Charles   
   DeCarli, a neurologist and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at   
   University of California-Davis, says. "My only concern is that some tau is   
   normal [in the brain]. The    
   other downside is that amyloid is in the brain years and years before tau is   
   in the brain." DeCarli points out that even if Janssen had a vaccine ready to   
   go today, it would take three to five years to show that the treatment is safe   
   and effective in    
   animals before the company could even begin clinical trials.     
      
   Overall, 120 people will work in Janssen's new prevention center, which is to   
   be the largest of the three initiatives that the company has just announced,   
   at a primary facility in the Netherlands or in auxiliary labs in the U.K. and   
   California, according    
   to Oliver Stohlmann, vice president for research communications for Janssen.   
      
   Early Detection   
      
   Janssen calls its second initiative a "disease interception accelerator" and   
   says it will focus on detecting and treating diseases long before symptoms   
   occur. The accelerator is headquartered in New Jersey and currently staffed   
   with four people. "We    
   haven't been as good at saying how one progresses from being susceptible to an   
   illness to actually becoming ill," Hait says. "I think once we start digging   
   in and understanding this, then we can start intervening."   
      
   For example, many doctors currently prescribe statins to lower patients'   
   cholesterol and prevent heart attacks. Hait adds: "Right now, we equate   
   disease with illness but really, many diseases start many, many years before   
   illness."   
      
      
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