Christine Brennan, formerly at Novartis and MSD, is returning to corporate VC at Johnson & Johnson’s JJDC unit, replacing Marian Nakada.
US-based pharmaceutical and medical technology group Johnson & Johnson’s corporate venture capital arm, JJDC, has hired Christine Brennan as vice-president of venture investments.
Brennan is taking over in the role from Marian Nakada, who left JJDC in September 2025, retiring after nearly 13 years at the unit.
The move represents a return to CVC for Brennan, who most recently spent four years as managing director for biotech and medtech-focused venture fund Vertex Ventures.
Brennan had previously been a partner at biotech company MSD’s MRL Ventures Fund, which she joined in 2017 following four years at Novartis Venture Funds as a principal, investing on behalf of pharmaceutical firm Novartis. She had been chief business officer for small-molecule drug developer Vitae Pharmaceuticals prior to becoming an investor.
JJDC oversees a portfolio of more than 40 companies. Its investments this year include co-leading antibody-based cancer therapeutics startup EpiBiologics’ $107m series B round and contributing to a $50m round for inflammatory disease drug developer Trex Bio.
Robert Lavine
Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.
