AAA Davis leaves JJDC

Davis leaves JJDC

Roy Davis (pictured), president of Johnson & Johnson’s Development Corporation, has retired after nearly four years at the top of the US-based healthcare group’s corporate venturing unit.

Davis joined J&J in 1984 after working for healthcare peers and since January 2008 was responsible for the management and efforts of both JJDC and the internal Johnson & Johnson ventures group, Redscript Ventures. Separately, J&J is next month finishing its refurbishment of its San Diego, California, office so start-ups can be based att he innovation centre, although the corporate venturing unitwill not necessarily take an equity stake in those being housed there, according to its head, Diego Miralles, in an interview with news provider Fierce Biotech.

From 2003 until 2007, Davis was company group chairman of J&J and worldwide franchise chairman of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.
Peers regard Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) as a leader in medical innovation.

Chris Coburn, head of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, which invests in start-ups as part of the US-based medical centre, said: "Roy has been nice enough to serve on our [Industrial Advisory Board of the Cleveland Clinic] and we are thrilled to have him as JJDC is the Kleiner Perkins [Caufield & Byers, KPCB] of corporate venturing."

Founded in 1972, a year before JJDC, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins is a top-tier investor and has helped created multiple industries, including biotechnology through its early backing of Genentech (now merged with drugs group Roche).

Last year, J&J was ranked second in the healthcare sector for the influence wielded by its corporate venturing unit, just behind Novartis, according to Global Corporate Venturing.

(A profile of JJDC will be in the next healthcare feature by the Global Corporate Venturing magazine in June.)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *