Janssen Pharmaceuticals
18-Brand Healthcare Portal Design System

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company, managed 18 distinct pharmaceutical brands across 13 therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and cardiovascular medicine. Each brand operated independently with its own digital presence, patient portals, and healthcare provider tools. The result was a fragmented landscape with 85% UI inconsistency across brands, creating patient confusion and operational inefficiencies.

The FDA approval process was the critical bottleneck. Every new feature, interface update, and patient touchpoint required separate regulatory review. With inconsistent designs, average review time stretched to 12 weeks per submission. At any given time, 45+ submissions were queued, creating a 6-month backlog. In the pharmaceutical industry, every week of delay means thousands of patients waiting for access to life-saving treatments.

Executive leadership demanded transformation: create a unified design system across all 18 brands, achieve 100% FDA compliance, reduce review times by 30%, eliminate UI inconsistencies, and accelerate drug launch timelines. The stakes were measured in patient lives—faster approvals meant faster access to critical treatments for 50+ million patients worldwide.

Pharmaceutical UX design operates in one of the most heavily regulated environments in technology. Every interface element, content pattern, and interaction must comply with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 regulations governing electronic records, patient information, medical claims, and healthcare communications. A single compliance violation can delay drug launches by months and cost millions in lost revenue.

We engineered FDA compliance directly into the design system architecture. We created a pre-approved component library with 175+ validated UI elements, standardized content patterns for medical information, and clear regulatory guidelines that ensured every new interface could move through approval processes efficiently. Components included built-in compliance features: required medical disclaimer placements, mandatory risk warning patterns, and prescribed content hierarchies for therapeutic information.

Working in partnership with legal, compliance, and regulatory affairs teams, we established a streamlined UI approval workflow. Pre-approved components bypassed redundant review cycles, reducing average FDA review time from 12 weeks to 7.8 weeks—a 35% reduction. The submission backlog decreased from 45 to 18 queued items. This accelerated time-to-market for critical patient resources across all 18 pharmaceutical brands.

We architected a comprehensive Figma design system that became the single source of truth for all digital experiences across Janssen`s pharmaceutical portfolio. The system featured 175+ pre-approved components, 50+ FDA-compliant templates, and comprehensive design tokens for colors, typography, spacing, and interaction patterns. This eliminated 85% of UI inconsistencies while preserving each brand`s unique visual identity through customizable theming.

The component library covered every critical patient journey: authentication and identity verification, medication information display and tracking, insurance claim processing and management, copay assistance and rebate programs, provider resources and support materials, and educational content delivery. All components were pre-engineered for FDA compliance, enabling designers to build compliant interfaces in 4 hours instead of 2 weeks.

Design tokens ensured visual consistency while enabling brand customization. Each of the 18 brands could apply their unique color palette, typography, and imagery while maintaining the same underlying structure and interaction patterns. This scalability supported both small pilot programs with 100 users and massive national drug launches serving 5+ million patients.

Pharmaceutical patient portals manage extraordinarily complex information ecosystems: medication schedules and dosing instructions, insurance claims and prior authorizations, copay assistance and rebate programs, side effect tracking and adverse event reporting, provider communications and appointment scheduling, and educational resources for 13 therapeutic areas. Our challenge was making this complexity feel manageable and even simple for patients often coping with serious health conditions.

We designed sophisticated progressive disclosure patterns that revealed information based on patient needs and journey stages. First-time users encountered streamlined onboarding with only essential information—registration, basic profile setup, and primary medication access. Returning patients saw personalized quick-actions for their most common tasks: refill prescriptions, view claims status, and contact support. Power users managing complex conditions had access to advanced features: detailed analytics, historical trends, and multi-medication management.

Accessibility was paramount—patients ranged from 18 to 90+ years old, spanning all technical comfort levels and abilities. We implemented WCAG 2.1 AA compliance with 44px minimum touch targets, 4.5:1 color contrast ratios, plain language translations of medical terminology at 8th-grade reading level, and comprehensive screen reader optimization. User testing with 120+ patients across age groups and abilities ensured the experience worked for everyone.

The transformation delivered extraordinary outcomes across every dimension. We successfully unified design across all 18 pharmaceutical brands, eliminated 85% of UI inconsistencies, and reduced FDA review times from 12 weeks to 7.8 weeks—a 35% reduction. The submission backlog decreased from 45 to 18 queued items. Most critically, we accelerated drug launch timelines by 40%, getting life-saving treatments to patients 8 weeks faster on average.

The design system delivered 2,000+ compliant screens across the Janssen pharmaceutical portfolio—all on time and within project constraints. Every FDA submission approved on first review. Every patient experience improved. Design velocity increased 6x with compliant interfaces now buildable in 4 hours versus 2 weeks previously. The system was adopted by 85+ designers and developers across 8 cross-functional brand teams.

Beyond quantifiable metrics, we transformed how Janssen approaches digital product development. The design system became a strategic asset enabling faster innovation while maintaining the highest quality and compliance standards. For 50+ million patients worldwide across 13 therapeutic areas, this transformation means better access to life-saving treatments, clearer health information, and more supportive healthcare experiences. The Johnson & Johnson innovation awards recognized this program as a benchmark for pharmaceutical digital transformation.