People with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) face daily health challenges (such as sudden shortness of breath), unfortunately, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the PH HUMAN app, developed by Janssen, appropriate remote care becomes possible, allowing patients to receive personalized care when they need it. Even in their safe home environment! Patients record symptoms, lifestyle information and quality of life, and can then share this with their healthcare providers to better prepare and thus improve consultations. Because this is a rare disease, often difficult to manage, these insights are extremely valuable. Patients thus receive support that is tailored to their needs, giving them more control and autonomy over their own health.

Working together takes research further. That is the idea behind the European Innovative Medicines Initiative ("IMI"). The IMI was established in 2008 by the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. On the one hand, it aims to create stronger collaboration between industry, academia, biotech companies, governments, patient organizations and NGOs. On the other hand, the initiative also aims to provide additional incentives for innovation in healthcare and to take it to the next level. Within the current IMI project, Janssen is contributing to the research into neurodegenerative diseases. These are incurable diseases that result in the death of nerve cells, leading to problems with movement and mental functioning - as in the case of dementia. Knowledge is also shared around vaccines, for example in relation to Ebola, diabetes and immunological diseases.

Collaboration is central to the CARE Consortium (Corona Accelerated R&D in Europe), of which Janssen is a co-initiator. CARE brings together scientists from no fewer than 37 universities, research institutes and large and small pharmaceutical companies to work on possible solutions for COVID-19, with the support of the European Innovative Medicines Initiative. Under the co-leadership of Marnix Van Loock, Janssen Global Public Health, we are looking at the possibility of using existing medicines in the context of the corona pandemic. In addition, through further research, we want to understand the disease better so that we can also develop new medicines against COVID-19, but also against other coronaviruses that may pose a health risk in the future.

'We are the bridge builder between research institutions, hospitals, and universities. Janssen works together with all these parties because we all have the same goal: to help and cure patients and, where possible, to prevent people from becoming ill. We need each other in order to achieve the best results, and we stimulate the connection between all of these researchers, both internally and externally. We are all elements of one big puzzle.

Therefore, with our strategic partnerships, we try to create what we call a "collaborative environment." These are collaborations in which we dare to look far ahead on themes that are aimed at maintaining and strengthening a lively and innovative ecosystem in Belgium. Examples include the attraction of new talent and the increasing digitalization of healthcare, but also the development of new technology platforms such as gene therapy and CAR-T cell therapy. Janssen is very active in this area, but the same applies to research institutions, academic players, and other parties within the healthcare system. We are therefore trying to organize the collaboration in such a way that we can continue to learn from these parties, and they can also learn from us. Such a pre-competitive and learning environment can stimulate innovation enormously.

These challenges are often impossible to solve in the short term, but that is precisely what makes it so fascinating. It ranges from legislation and policy to the implementation of knowledge in universities and education. It is therefore very multidisciplinary. My ambition is to bring together experts from various disciplines to jointly achieve a so-called 'Life Sciences ecosystem' that is supported by everyone, where innovation is encouraged and valued, and where healthcare remains accessible and affordable. In this way, I hope to be able to make an important contribution to what healthcare and innovation will look like in the next 15 years - that we create an environment now in which researchers and doctors can bring the right therapeutic solutions to patients in the years to come. Because if the government and researchers in industry and academia really work together, we can have an even greater positive impact on the lives of patients and their families.''