This Week's Top 5: J&J, Eli Lilly's Bet and BMS's AI Factory
With more than 140,000 employees across over 60 countries, Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's largest and most influential pharmaceutical companies.
Its Q2 2026 results reinforced that standing, reflecting continued momentum across its Innovative Medicine and MedTech businesses and reinforcing its position at the forefront of pharmaceutical development.
Reported quarterly sales growth rose 6.6% to US$25.3bn, a figure that puts Johnson & Johnson on track to reach the historic revenue milestone of US$100bn for the first time.
The company’s 2026 annual sales guidance now sits at US$101.1bn, up from US$100.8bn previously.
Declining birth rates could reshape energy demand patterns over the next few decades in ways that affect public health systems and the resources available to them.
Research from Wood Mackenzie examines how the United Nations' low fertility scenario might alter energy consumption through to 2100. According to Wood Mackenzie, the scenario projects global population peaking at 8.9 billion in 2053 before falling to 7 billion by the century's end.
The UN's central projection places population at 10 billion by 2060. A high fertility scenario sees 12.6 billion people by 2100.
The contrast between these paths carries implications for health infrastructure planning and the energy systems that support hospitals, medical facilities and pharmaceutical production.
Treatment-resistant depression poses some of neuroscience’s most challenging questions.
In a bid to expand its neuroscience pipeline and improve treatment of this largely incurable condition, Eli Lilly is set to acquire AtaiBeckley, marking a significant step in the development of next-generation mental health treatments.
The deal, which could be worth up to US$3.8bn, marks Eli Lilly’s first foray into the psychedelic-based drug discovery market.
“Treatment-resistant depression persists even after multiple treatments have failed. Millions of people are still searching for relief and desperately need a therapy that works,” says Carole Ho, Executive Vice President at Eli Lilly and President at Lilly Neuroscience.
“Advancing AtaiBeckley's investigational therapies gives us a real chance to change that.”
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is scaling its NVIDIA-powered AI infrastructure to create what the company describes as the “most powerful AI factory in life sciences.”
BMS already possesses one of the life science industry’s most powerful AI systems, also powered by advanced NVIDIA technology, to support its wide-ranging research and development programmes.
This second system will deliver up to ten times greater performance per megawatt than its predecessor.
The new system will deploy an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD with DGX Vera Rubin NVL72 systems, creating the life sciences industry's most powerful and energy-efficient privately owned NVIDIA infrastructure.
With the global AI healthcare market on track to reach US$491bn by 2032, the World Economic Forum (WEF) warns against repeating mistakes made during previous waves of digital transformation.
It cites the rollout of electronic health records (EHRs), which promised better coordination and improved clinical decision-making, but initially contributed to growing administrative workloads, often forcing doctors to spend more time documenting care than delivering it.
Instead of taking centre stage in the clinician-patient relationship, WEF argues AI must operate in the background, removing friction from healthcare delivery while allowing clinicians to spend more time building trust with patients.
The lesson, WEF argues, is not that digital technologies fail, but that innovation without a clear human-centred purpose can create unintended consequences.
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Carole Ho
Executive Vice President and President, Lilly Neuroscience, Eli Lilly and Company
