The Janssen Way

At Janssen, our core responsibility is to develop innovative treatments for unmet medical needs and delivering great outcomes to patients and society.  To strengthen our efforts, we collaborate with many other groups and organisations who share the same goal.  With our pharmaceutical expertise, we play a vital role in advancing medicine, through research and development of new treatments, as well as ongoing education and continued safety monitoring.  Collaboration, mutual trust and respect are essential for bringing value to both patients and society.

The way we collaborate with HCPs is governed first by law and further by industry standards set out by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) Code of Practice. In addition Janssen has its own ethical business principles for our collaboration with HCPs, “The Janssen Way”.

• The integrity of the decision of a HCP to prescribe or recommend a medicine is one of the pillars of the healthcare system. We recognise that interactions between pharmaceutical companies and HCPs can create the potential for conflicts of interest and we take care to ensure their professional integrity is never compromised.
• Our internal principles govern our interactions with HCPs and Healthcare Organisations (HCOs), in line with all existing regulations and our ethical approach. Our internal processes, underpinned by the values enshrined in our company Credo, include comprehensive training for all employees, standardised systems for the review and approval of transactions with HCPs, ongoing monitoring and audits.

Collaboration between partners in healthcare involving Transfer of Value (ToV)

Janssen is publicly disclosing any Transfers of Value (ToV) made to HCPs and HCOs as required by the ABPI Code of Practice. 

The ToVs to be disclosed can be categorised in the following key areas:
1. Collaborative Working, including Joint Working
2. Donations and Grants to HCOs
3. Contribution to costs of Events
4. Fees and Expenses paid for Contracted Services
5. Research & Development (R&D) ToV related to the planning and conducting of studies

Janssen sponsors and supports where possible, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes ( i.e. congresses, educational meetings, etc) to further educate HCPs about new treatment approaches, and in doing so, enhance their knowledge for the benefit of patients.

We aim to provide fair and balanced education programmes that follow guidelines defined by accrediting bodies in Europe, based on the medical community’s educational needs and carried out by independent expert committees.

At Janssen, our support of educational programmes is regulated and transparent:

• Making financial contributions in the form of grants and sponsorships to support educational activities and congresses organised by respected medical societies and other third scientific parties on a local, European and international basis
• Developing medical educational programmes, which are organised with independent experts according to Janssen guidelines
• Supporting individual doctors to attend congresses and educational meetings based on their educational needs or active involvement

Logistical arrangements for these activities follow the ABPI’s guidelines, are always modest and strictly limited to HCPs.

At Janssen, our promotional programmes, where we provide detailed information on our products, follow the same ethical principles. 

• HCPs and HCOs provide Janssen with independent and expert knowledge derived from their clinical and management experience and Janssen compensates them fairly for the services provided.
• Janssen pays fees based on the time required by a HCP to deliver a service (hourly rates are defined at fair market value). Janssen respects the autonomy of HCPs and our activities observe all ethical business practice standards.

3. R&D ToV related to the planning and conducting of studies

• Clinical trials are a key requirement in the development of medicines, which require the involvement of HCPs and their patients
• We compensate HCPs and HCOs fairly for their time, expertise and resources required to undertake this necessary research
• Transparency in clinical trial data: As a company, we believe that greater clinical trial data-sharing for the advancement of science and medicine is the right thing to do. This is demonstrated by our unique agreement with Yale University Open Data Access Project (YODA) to enable access to our clinical trial data. This is the first time any company has collaborated with a completely independent academic third party to review and make final decisions regarding every request for clinical data. For further information please see the following http://yoda.yale.edu/johnson-johnson

Medical advances, pharmaceutical innovation and the expansion of treatment options for many diseases would not be possible without the above-described collaboration with HCPs and HCOs. We are fully committed to increasing transparency in the relationship between industry and the medical community because we recognise this openness will help demonstrate that these interactions ultimately benefit patients in the form of more informed clinical decision-making and the appropriate use of medicines.