Johnson & Johnson opens its doors to schools for a journey of drug discovery
Artificial intelligence will play a key role in addressing the challenges of oncology. This was the conviction of the high school students from Milan who took part in Dal laboratorio alla vita, the meeting held today at the Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia headquarters on the eve ofWorld Cancer Day, 4 February 2025. In particular, according to the students, AI will enable early and accurate diagnoses (59%) and accelerate the development of new therapeutic molecules and personalised treatments (58%).
During the meeting, the students were guided by Johnson & Johnson experts on a journey of discovery of therapeutic innovation and the value it brings to patients' lives, with a focus on oncology. The topics covered the entire journey of the drug: from dialogue with patients to research, from the evolution of therapies to market access, from marketing to pharmacovigilance, and the use of artificial intelligence and new technologies to foster innovation.
And it is precisely in relation to artificial intelligence that young people - according to a survey conducted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale - have expressed the highest expectations: according to 4 out of 5 young people, medicine (76%) and scientific research (73%) will be the sectors that will benefit most from AI, making the healthcare of the future faster (68%) and more personalised (46%). With respect tooncology, students are all convinced that AI will play a role, with 29% believing it will have a fundamental and decisive impact.
The meeting is part of Fattore J, the project promoted with Johnson & Johnson to tell young people about the future of medicine. The initiative, now in its fifth edition, boasts this year the scientific collaboration of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, a reference point in oncological research and protagonist of great clinical and health achievements. ‘From the Laboratory to Life’ will continue with a second training event during the month of February at the company's plant in Latina, where the topic of pharmaceutical production will be explored.
In oncology, Johnson & Johnson is committed to responding to patients' as yet unmet treatment needs and to forms of cancer for which treatment options are limited. The diseases on which the greatest research efforts are currently focused are prostate, lung and bladder cancer - as far as solid tumours are concerned - and multiple myeloma, chronic lymphatic leukaemia, mantle cell lymphoma, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, acute myeloid leukaemia, light chain amyloidosis and myelodysplastic syndromes - as far as blood cancers are concerned. By 2030, the company expects more than 35 new applications to regulatory agencies globally, including new molecules or combinations and indication extensions; of these, 15 will be in blood cancers, 3 in prostate cancer, 3 in lung cancer, 4 in bladder cancer, and more than 5 in other areas.
Today's meeting allowed students from four Milanese schools with a biomedical bent to meet with experts in the pharmaceutical sector, in an interesting and lively moment of orientation and inspiration. In fact, the students, many of whom are already close to the world of health, say they aspire to a career in the medical field, supporting patients, on the front line, or through research work. The teachers also greeted us extremely satisfied with this meeting, as it offered the school the rare opportunity to physically enter a large company, breathing in the professionalism and motivation of the employees who put their skills at the disposal of the young talents of the future. There were many requests to continue the activities within the framework of this wonderful project also and above all with in-depth training appointments, more vertical on the topics presented today. They will continue to work in the classroom also independently and we hope to receive the best work and to be able to find ourselves, in some time, to report on the success of a new health professional, born, who knows, also a bit thanks to us and this beautiful work of ours.
Claudia Belella, project officer
