Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Advancing Rare Disease Research Through Digital Innovation
The challenge
Actelion, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary specializing in therapies for rare diseases, needed a secure digital tool to empower its research teams. Actelion partnered with CitrusBits to create an iOS research enablement platform that delivered personalized access to medical literature, advanced collaboration features, and compliance-first engineering modeled on SaMD standards.
Actelion, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, is a global leader in therapies for rare and orphan diseases. Its research teams needed a secure and scalable way to access, organize, and share the latest medical literature. Traditional workflows made it difficult to keep pace with breakthroughs in rare disease research, slowing collaboration and delaying the translation of knowledge into therapeutic progress. Actelion asked CitrusBits to create a digital solution that could bring medical journals into a single mobile platform, provide personalized access for researchers, and align with the compliance standards expected in the pharmaceutical industry.
The process
CitrusBits designed and engineered an iOS research enablement platform supported by a custom backend and CMS. The solution integrated RightFind’s API with custom-built controls to deliver journal articles directly within the app. Beyond integration, the platform introduced advanced features including personalized research feeds, secure access management, push notifications for new publications, and collaboration tools such as favoriting and sharing articles across teams.
Because Actelion operates in a regulated industry, the development process followed a SaMD-style rigor even though the app itself was not classified as a medical device. HIPAA standards informed data handling, audit-ready documentation was embedded into the development lifecycle, and security protocols ensured that sensitive medical content was protected. Design sessions focused on usability for researchers in diverse environments, making the app reliable during fieldwork, clinical review, or collaborative study.
The result
The platform transformed how Actelion’s researchers accessed and shared critical knowledge in rare diseases. It reduced the time spent searching for relevant journals, improved cross-team collaboration, and ensured that research teams stayed on the leading edge of scientific advancements. By applying SaMD-aligned practices such as compliance-first engineering, clinical usability testing, and secure data management, CitrusBits delivered more than a utility app, iit delivered a foundation for regulated, enterprise-grade digital solutions. The project strengthened Actelion’s ability to accelerate research in rare diseases while preparing its digital ecosystem for future SaMD innovations.
