Saudi Arabia Inks Deals with Johnson & Johnson to Bolster Health Sector

Saudi Arabia Inks Deals with Johnson & Johnson to Bolster Health Sector

The two MoUs cover different scopes of activities and are designed to address current health needs, advance science and research, and bring innovative treatments and solutions to patients.

Speaking on the partnerships, Vishnu Kalra, Managing Director for Janssen GCC, said: "In more than four decades as strategic partners, Johnson & Johnson and Saudi Arabia have pursued new and innovative approaches to unmet health challenges. Today's agreements take us one step closer to putting dengue fever behind us and will help step up local manufacturing capabilities through greater knowledge and technology transfer.“

Under the new MoU, Janssen, one of the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions to some of the world´s most pressing scientific and technological challenges, will explore collaborations to tackle dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus and one of the many neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Collaborative efforts may include studying dengue epidemiology, creating outbreak simulation plans using artificial intelligence and data visualization, and supporting the study and analysis of potential therapeutic compounds for dengue.

Though dengue fever infects as many as 400 million people each year, there are currently no therapeutics available and only one