Johnson and Johnson’s new vaccines leader talks Covid-19, pipeline plans, and ‘a golden opportunity’ for clinical trials

STAT November 17, 2021
Helen Branswell

There’s a changing of the guard at Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines division. In June, the company announced that Penny Heaton, formerly the founding CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, was joining Janssen as the global therapeutic area head for vaccines, taking over from Johan Van Hoof, who retires at the end of 2021.

Heaton’s CV shows her chops. She also previously worked for Merck, Novartis, and Novavax, and earlier in her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As she faces her first J&J Pharma Day on Wednesday — actually a two-day event for analysts — STAT caught up to Heaton to ask her about her plans for Janssen’s vaccines division. We discussed...

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