Johnson & Johnson CEO hopes cross-pharma partnerships will continue after COVID-19

The CEO of American pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson, hopes drug-makers across the country will continue to partner together after the pandemic ends.

Alex Gorsky praised the US’s cross-pharma collaboration, as well as public-private partnerships that played a crucial role in speeding up the production of the COVID-19 vaccine, and hopes that the country doesn’t “go back to doing business as usual” after it’s over.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Gorsky said “I think having spent more than 30 years of my life in this industry, I have never seen this level of collaboration as I’ve observed over the last 13 months.”

That includes a partnership with the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defence, which issued a $1 billion injection to Johnson & Johnson to aid its vaccine research.

Even across the sector, partnerships have ensured that vaccine production is ramped up. A collaboration between competing pharma giants, Johnson & Johnson and Merck, saw the latter dedicate facilities to produce the former’s vaccine in an effort to speed up the rollout. The alliance has been described by US President Joe Biden as “historic”.

The CEO lauded the partnership as a first in the industry, and hopes it sets a “great example” for others to follow. 

“I think all of these will be capabilities and lessons that will be applied forward,” Gorsky said, and “that hopefully make us more effective, more efficient, better, more resilient, and, ultimately, is going to get treatments to patients faster in the future.”