Start spreadin’ the news: Johnson & Johnson is stepping away from its startup incubator in New York.
The pharma is transitioning operations and management of its New York City JLABS space to the site owner, the New York Genome Center (NYGC), a J&J spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech Tuesday morning.
The 30,000-square-foot SoHo facility launched in 2018 at NYGC with $17 million in state funding, providing space for up to 30 startups. According to J&J’s website, the New York incubator has hosted over 100 companies, which have collectively raised over $5 billion in funding to date.
In the past decade, J&J has built more than a dozen JLABS locations worldwide, aimed at equipping startups with access to lab equipment, operational support, business services and the Big Pharma’s broader network.
“We’re here to support you on that journey,” J&J Global Head of Innovation Melinda Richter told Fierce Biotech during JLABS expansions in 2022. “No strings attached—you can partner with anybody. At the end of the day, we’re here to help you succeed, because our purpose around patients is what matters.”
But after expanding globally, J&J is now scaling back its incubator footprint. The JLABS website currently lists eight locations, including New York. This morning’s news means San Diego, San Francisco and Boston are now the only remaining U.S. sites, with international locations in Belgium, Singapore, South Korea and Shanghai. JLABS closed its Houston, Toronto and Washington, D.C., sites last year.
In a statement, a J&J spokesperson said the company is “constantly evaluating its innovation strategy to deliver the greatest impact to patients,” but did not respond to questions about potential layoffs related to the closure or the future of the broader JLABS initiative.
Despite the recent closures, the spokesperson said J&J remains “committed to accelerating early-stage innovation with partners through strategic collaborations, our global incubation program and venture investments across vibrant life science ecosystems around the world.”
NYGC did not respond to questions about the future of the JLABS space or its resident companies by the time of publication.
JLABS isn’t the only Big Pharma incubator facing cuts. Last week, Fierce Biotech reported that Pfizer is shutting down its Ignite business unit, which provided biotechs with strategic guidance and end-to-end R&D services. Pfizer’s most recent annual report said the company is working to “ensure continuity and the successful transition of work” for Ignite participants.
Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is moving in the opposite direction. Earlier this month, Lilly named South Korea as the location for its latest Gateway Labs incubator in collaboration with Korean manufacturing giant Samsung Biologics.
