Johnson & Johnson Closes Bay Area R&D Facility, Plans New California Innovation Center

1. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is shutting down its newly established Research & Development (R&D) facility in Brisbane, California, less than 18 months after opening it.
2. The nearly 200,000 square-foot R&D outpost, called the San Francisco Bay Campus (SFBC), aimed to integrate drug discovery, data science, and digital health initiatives.
3. A J&J spokesperson confirmed the closure and announced plans to establish a "new California Innovation Center" while maintaining an active presence in the Bay Area's early innovation ecosystem.
4. The closure involves 55 permanent layoffs effective by April 26, 2024, as indicated in a California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filing made on February 23, 2024.
5. The SFBC had initially planned to hire up to 400 people and focused on emerging gene and RNA-based therapies, along with research on retinal and infectious diseases.
6. The decision to close the R&D site coincides with J&J's shift away from certain pharmaceutical areas, such as infectious diseases and vaccines, which led to deprioritization and eventually cessation of R&D efforts in these fields.
7. Despite the R&D site closure, J&J reportedly spent a record amount on R&D in 2023, exceeding $15 billion.