Melding bits, bytes and biology, a conversation with J&J’s Najat Khan

Janssen’s head of data science and R&D strategy on how the company is using data to advance medicine

Every biopharmaceutical company is grappling with the challenge of integrating data science and biology to accelerate and improve the ways they create medicines. Johnson & Johnson’s approach has been to empower one person, Najat Khan, to head both data science and a wide range of R&D activities.

The BioCentury Show spoke with Khan, chief data science officer and global head of strategy, portfolio and operations for R&D at the Janssen Pharmaceutical unit of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), about the melding of bits, bytes and biology at one of the world’s largest pharma companies.

The key, she said, is applying data science “to areas that really matter” to produce clear, tangible results.

Khan provided examples of ways J&J is using data science to advance clinical development, including to enhance trial design, improve evidence generation, and enable precision medicine. It is exploring the use of augmented reality and voice recognition technology to detect Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage, using AI to scan histopathology data to identify high-risk prostate cancer patients, and deploying passive sensors to measure nocturnal scratch.

Khan said generative AI, or large language models similar to ChatGPT, has applications from drug discovery to the detection of depression, and also in driving efficiency by helping to create documentation for regulatory submissions.

Khan stressed the importance of engineering trust and ethics into applications of data science in biopharma. She estimates that 60-70% of the time invested in the projects she is leading are devoted to data validation, data privacy and data engineering. Transparency, fairness and ethical issues such as reducing bias are essential, she said. To gain and keep the trust of patients, regulators and the public, Khan said, companies must be able to explain how algorithms are developed and how they are being deployed.