Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is ranked No. 36 on the 2021

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's most valuable companies, and is one of only two U.S.-based companies that has a prime credit rating of AAA, higher than that of the United States government. Johnson & Johnson is headquartered in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Skillman, New Jersey Skillman is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.first aid supplies. Among its well-known consumer products are the Band-Aid Brand line of bandages, Tylenol medications, Johnson's Baby products,

Neutrogena Neutrogena Corporation, trading as Neutrogena, is an American company that markets skin care, hair care and cosmetics owned by parent company Johnson & Johnson and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

skin and beauty products,

Clean & Clear Clean & Clear is an American brand of dermatology products owned by Johnson & Johnson. Most products aim towards young women and men, but some treat a wider range of conditions, such as the "SOFT" line. Clean & Clear is currently available in 46 c ...

facial wash and Acuvue

contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

es. Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical arm is Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The company announced in November 2021 that it would split into two publicly traded companies: one focused on consumer products and the other on pharmaceuticals and medical technologies.

History

1873–1885: Before Johnson & Johnson

Robert Wood Johnson began his professional training at age 16 as a pharmaceutical apprentice at an apothecary run by his mother's cousin, James G. Wood, in Poughkeepsie, New York. Johnson co-founded his own company with George Seabury in 1873. The New York-based Seabury & Johnson became known for its medicated plasters. Robert Wood Johnson represented the company at the 1876 World's Fair. There he heard Joseph Lister's explanation of a new procedure: antiseptic surgery. Johnson parted ways with his business partner Seabury in 1885.

1886: Founding of Johnson & Johnson

Johnson and Johnson corrosive sublimate cotton

Robert Wood Johnson joined his brothers,

James Wood Johnson James Wood Johnson (18561932) was an American businessman and one of the co-founders of Johnson & Johnson. In 1886, James Wood Johnson and his two brothers Robert Wood Johnson I and Edward Mead Johnson Edward Mead Johnson (April 23, 1852 &nda ...

and

Edward Mead Johnson Edward Mead Johnson (April 23, 1852 – March 20, 1934) was an American businessman and one of the co-founders of Johnson & Johnson. In 1886, Edward Mead Johnson abandoned a career in law and joined his two brothers Robert Wood Johnson I, and ...

, and created a line of ready-to-use sterile surgical dressings in 1886. They founded Johnson & Johnson in 1886 with 14 employees, eight women and six men. They manufactured sterile surgical supplies, household products, and medical guides. Those products initially featured a logo that resembled the signature of James Wood Johnson, very similar to the current logo. Robert Wood Johnson served as the first president of the company.

1887–1942: Early history

The company sold medicated plasters such as Johnson & Johnson's Black Perfect Taffeta Court Plaster and also manufactured the world's first sterile surgical products, including sutures, absorbent cotton, and gauze. The company published "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment", a guide on how to do sterile surgery using its products, and in 1888, distributed 85,000 copies to doctors and pharmacists across the United States. The manual was translated into three languages and distributed worldwide. The first commercial first aid kit was designed in 1888 to support railroad construction workers, who were often hundreds of miles from medical care. The kits included antiseptic emergency supplies and directions for field use. In 1901, the company published the ''Handbook of First Aid'', a guide on applying first aid. In 1889, the company hired pharmacist Fred Kilmer as its first scientific director, who led its scientific research and wrote educational manuals. Kilmer's first achievement as scientific director was developing the industrial sterilization process. He was employed at the company until 1934. Johnson & Johnson had more than 400 employees and 14 buildings by 1894. In 1894, the company began producing Johnson's Baby Powder, the company's first baby product. The company introduced the world's first maternity kit in 1894 to aid at-home births. The kit contained antiseptic soap, sanitary napkins, umbilical tape, and Johnson's Baby Powder. The products were later marketed separately, including "Lister's Towels", the world's first mass-produced sanitary napkins. Kilmer wrote "Hygiene in Maternity", an instructional guide for mothers before and after delivery. In 1904, the company expanded its baby care products with "Lister's Sanitary Diapers", a diaper product for infants. During the Spanish–American War, Johnson & Johnson developed and donated 300,000 packaged compressed surgical dressings for soldiers in the field and created a trauma stretcher for field medics. The company donated its products in disaster relief efforts of the

1900 Galveston hurricane The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, is the deadliest natural disaster in United States history and the third-d ...

and the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sha ...

. Johnson & Johnson vaccinated all of its employees against smallpox during the 1901 smallpox epidemic. The firm employed more than 1,200 people by 1910. Women accounted for half of the company's workforce and led a quarter of its departments. Robert Wood Johnson died in 1910, and he was succeeded as president of the company by his brother James Wood Johnson. During World War I, Johnson & Johnson factories increased production to meet wartime demands for sterile surgical products. In 1916, the company acquired Chicopee Manufacturing Company in

Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts Chicopee ( ) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-lar ...

, to meet demand. Near the end of World War I, the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

broke out. The company invented and distributed an epidemic mask which helped prevent the spread of the flu. In 1919, Johnson & Johnson opened the Gilmour Plant near Montreal, its first factory outside of the United States, which produced surgical products for international customers. In 1924 the company's first overseas manufacturing facility was opened in Slough, England. In 1920, Earle Dickson combined two Johnson & Johnson products, adhesive tape and gauze, to create the first commercial adhesive bandage. Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages began sales the following year. In 1921, the company released Johnson's Baby Soap. Named after its Massachusetts facility, Johnson & Johnson built a textile mill and company town, Chicopee, outside of Gainesville, Georgia. In the 1930s, the company expanded operations to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. In 1931, Johnson & Johnson introduced the first prescription contraceptive gel marketed as Ortho-Gynol.

Robert Wood Johnson II Robert Wood "General" Johnson II (April 4, 1893 – January 30, 1968) was an American businessman. He was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. He turned the family business into one of the world's l ...

became president of the company in 1932. During The Great Depression Johnson & Johnson kept all its workers employed and raised wages by five percent. In 1933, Robert Wood Johnson II wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, calling for a federal law to increase wages and reduce hours for all American workers. The company also opened a new facility in Chicago during that period. Johnson wrote and distributed "Try Reality: A Discussion of Hours, Wages, and The Industrial Future" to persuade business leaders to follow his lead, advocating that business is more than profit and that companies have responsibilities to consumers, employees, and society. In "Try Reality", the section titled "An Industrial Philosophy" would later become the company's credo. In 1935, Johnson's Baby Oil was added to its line of baby products. Both male and female Johnson & Johnson employees were drafted and enlisted during World War II. The company ensured no one would lose their job when they returned home. Robert Wood Johnson II was appointed head of the Smaller War Plants Corporation in Washington, D.C. His work ensured U.S. factories with under 500 employees were awarded government contracts.

1943: Credo and going public

In 1943, as the company was preparing for its initial public offering (IPO), Robert Wood Johnson wrote what the company would call, "Our Credo", a defining document that has been used to guide the company's decisions over the years. The company completed its IPO and became a public company in 1944. In 1943,

Vesta Stoudt Vesta Oral Stoudt (April 13, 1891 – May 9, 1966) was a factory worker during the Second World War famous for her letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggesting the use of adhesive tape to improve ammunition boxes. Early life Vesta Oral ...

identified a need for waterproof tape for ammunition boxes in World War Two. She wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt with the idea; the president commissioned Revolite, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson at the time, to develop and manufacture a cloth-based adhesive tape.

1944-1999: Acquisitions and international expansion

In 1944, the company began selling Johnson's Baby Lotion. The same year, the company established Ethicon Suture Laboratories. In 1947, G. F. Merson Ltd. was acquired to expand the company’s suture business in the United Kingdom. The company was rebranded and absorbed into Ethicon. Johnson & Johnson

Chairman of the Board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Robert Wood Johnson published Or Forfeit Freedom in 1947. The book outlined that businesses need to develop

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

methods of using natural resources for the future of business and the planet. In 1955, Ethicon developed a micro point reverse--‐cutting ophthalmic needle attached to the suture. Micro-point surgical needles and sutures allowed for advances in modern vision surgery. In 1956, the company open its first Asia-based operating company in the Philippines. The following year, an operating company opened in India. In 1959, Johnson & Johnson acquired McNeil Laboratories. A year later, the company sold Tylenol for the first time without a prescription. In the same year, Cilag Chemie joined Johnson & Johnson as Cilag. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceutica was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Janssen Pharmaceutica was founded in 1953 by Belgian scientist Dr. Paul Janssen. In 1963,

Philip B. Hofmann Philip B. Hofmann (May 25, 1909 – December 29, 1986) was an American businessman. He was the first non-family-member to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the healthcare firm Johnson & Johnson. Biography Philip Hofmann was bor ...

succeeded Robert Wood Johnson as Chairman and CEO. He was the first non-Johnson family member to become chief executive. Hofmann also helped found the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In the same year, the Food and Drug Administration approved a synthetic hormone contraceptive pill, Ortho-Novum. In 1965, Johnson & Johnson acquired Codman & Shurtleff. The acquired company produced neurovascular devices and neurosurgery technologies. In 1968, the company developed the

RhoGAM Rho(D) immune globulin (RhIG) is a medication used to prevent RhD isoimmunization in mothers who are RhD negative and to treat idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in people who are Rh positive. It is often given both during and followi ...

Vaccine. The vaccine prevented Rh hemolytic disease in newborns. In 1969, Ortho Diagnostics, a company subsidiary, launched the Sickledex Tube Test for detecting anemia. The same year, the FDA approved the Johnson & Johnson arterial graft. In 1971, the company launched Hapindex Diagnostic Test, a rapid Hepatitis B test for blood donors. The test was developed to prevent the spread of Hepatitis B through blood transfusions. In 1973, Richard Sellars became Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. In 1976,

James E. Burke James E. Burke (February 28, 1925 – September 28, 2012) was an American corporate executive who was the CEO of Johnson & Johnson from 1976 to 1989, a company for which he worked forty years. He was the older brother of the television executiv ...

became the company’s Chairman and CEO. During Burke’s tenure, he managed the 1982 Tylenol tampering incident. It became a case study on crisis management. Under his leadership, the company recalled 31 million bottles of Tylenol, relaunched the product with a triple tamper-evident seal, and urged consumers not to use if tampered with. These practices became the pharmaceutical and packaged food industry norm. Johnson & Johnson opened operating companies in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and Egypt in 1985. In 1987, Acuvue

es became the first disposable contact lenses available to consumers. The lenses lasted up to one week, reducing the cost of contact lenses. In the same year, the company launched One Touch, a blood glucose monitoring system. In 1989,

Ralph S. Larsen Ralph S. Larsen (November 18, 1938 – March 9, 2016) was an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson from 1989 to 2002.

was appointed Chairman and CEO of the company. After the

Dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, Johnson & Johnson expanded into eastern Europe. By 1991, the company had a presence in Hungary, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Poland. In the 1990s, the company acquired many familiar consumer health brands that made up the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. These acquisitions included

Motrin Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also be used to close a patent ductus arte ...

, and

Aveeno Aveeno is an American brand of skin care and hair care products owned by American consumer goods and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson. Aveeno was founded in 1945 by brothers Albert and Sidney Musher, and its first product was their Soothi ...

. Johnson & Johnson opened an operating company in Israel in 1996. In 1997, Johnson & Johnson acquired Biosense Webster.

DePuy DePuy Synthes () is a franchise of orthopaedic and neurosurgery companies. Acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998, its companies form part of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices group. DePuy develops and markets products under the Codman, DePuy ...

was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998, rolling it into the Medtech business group.

2000-present

William C. Weldon William C. Weldon (born November 26, 1948) is a former chairman of Johnson & Johnson, He was the eighth chairman in Johnson & Johnson's history of more than one hundred years. Early life and education He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His paren ...

was appointed Chairman and CEO of the company in 2002. In 2003, Ethicon launched

Vicryl Vicryl (polyglactin 910) is an absorbable, synthetic, usually braided suture, manufactured by Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson. A monofilament version is also made for use in ophthalmic practice. It is indicated for soft tissue ...

Plus Antibacterial Sutures. The products prevent post-surgery infection within stitches. In 2006, Johnson & Johnson acquired Pfizer's consumer healthcare business and merged it with its consumer healthcare business group. The acquisition added brands like Listerine,

Bengay Bengay, spelled Ben-Gay before 1995, is a topical analgesic heat rub for temporary relief from muscle and joint pain associated with arthritis, bruises, simple backaches, overuse, sprains and strains. Overview Bengay was developed in France by ...

, and Neosporin to the company’s portfolio. In the same year, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, launched

Prezista Darunavir (DRV), sold under the brand name Prezista among others, is an antiretroviral medication used to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. It is generally recommended for use with other antiretrovirals. It is often used with low doses of ritonavir or ...

, a protease inhibitor for patients with failed previous HIV therapies. In 2008, Johnson & Johnson acquired

Mentor Corporation Mentor Worldwide LLC is an American company that supplies surgical aesthetics products to plastic surgeons. The company is based in Santa Barbara, California. It produces one of two silicone gel breast implants. Titled MemoryGel, the product wa ...

for $1 billion and merge its operations into Ethicon. In 2009, the company acquired HealthMedia, later renamed to Health & Wellness Solutions and the Human Performance Institute. In October 2010, J&J acquired

Crucell Janssen Vaccines, formerly Crucell, is a biotechnology company specializing in vaccines and biopharmaceutical technologies. It was formed when Johnson & Johnson acquired the Dutch biotech company Crucell based in Leiden and placed it in their ph ...

for $2.4 billion. The subsidiary operates as the centre for vaccines, within Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals business group. In 2012,

Alex Gorsky Alex Gorsky (born 1960) is an American businessman and the executive chairman of Johnson & Johnson. He is the seventh person who served as chair and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson since it became a publicly traded company in 1944. Go ...

became Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. In November 2015, Biosense Webster, Inc. acquired Coherex Medical Inc. expanding the company’s range of treatment options for patients with atrial fibrillation. In 2017, Johnson & Johnson acquired Abbott Medical Optics from Abbott Laboratories for $4.325 billion, adding the new division into Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. in 2017. The same year, Johnson & Johnson acquired

Actelion Actelion is a pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company established in December 1997, headquartered in Allschwil near Basel, Switzerland. Actelion focuses on the manufacture of drugs that treat rare diseases and orphan diseases. Some of the dru ...

in a $30 billion deal, the largest ever purchase by the company. After the purchase, Johnson & Johnson spun off Actelion’s research and development unit, into a separate legal entity. In July 2017, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc acquired

TearScience TearScience is an American company founded in 2005 that develops, manufactures and markets ophthalmic medical devices aiding in the identification and treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction, which can lead to dry eye disease, which is a condition ...

. In September 2017, the company acquired subscription-based contact lens startup Sightbox. In September of the same year Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH acquired Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, manufacturer of 3D-printed titanium interbody implants for spinal fusion surgery. In March 2019, the FDA approved

esketamine Esketamine, also known as (S)-ketamine or S(+)-ketamine, is the ''S''(+) enantiomer of ketamine, is a dissociative hallucinogen drug used as a general anesthetic and as an antidepressant for treatment of depression. It is sold under the brand ...

for the treatment of severe depression, which is marketed as

Spravato Esketamine, also known as (S)-ketamine or S(+)-ketamine, is the ''S''(+) enantiomer of ketamine, is a dissociative hallucinogen drug used as a general anesthetic and as an antidepressant for treatment of depression. It is sold under the brand n ...

by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In 2019, Johnson & Johnson announced the release of photochromic contact lenses. The lenses adjust to sunlight and help eyes recover from bright light exposure faster. The lenses contain a photochromic additive that adapts visible light amounts filtered to the eyes and are the first to use such additives. In November 2020, Johnson & Johnson acquired Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5 billion. In January 2022,

Joaquin Duato Joaquin Duato (born April 1962) is a Spanish-American business executive. Duato is a dual citizen of Spain and the United States. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson, an American multinational conglomerate. He is the ei ...

became CEO of Johnson & Johnson. In November 2022, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would acquire Abiomed Inc for $16.6 billion. The deal closed on December 22.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) response

Johnson & Johnson committed over $1 billion toward the development of a not-for-profit COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, in ...

(BARDA) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

(HHS). Paul Stoffels of Johnson & Johnson said, "In order to go fast, the people of Johnson & Johnson are committed to do this and all together we say we're going to do this not for profit. That's the fastest and the best way to find all the collaborations in the world to make this happen so we commit to bring this at a not-for-profit level." Janssen Vaccines, in partnership with

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and New England Deaconess Hospital (founded ...

(BIDMC), is responsible for developing the vaccine candidate, based on the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine. The vaccine candidate is expected to enter phase 1 human clinical study in September 2020. Demand for the product Tylenol surged two to four times normal levels in March 2020. In response, the company increased production globally. For example, the Tylenol plant in Puerto Rico ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In response to the shortage of ventilators, Ethicon, with Prisma Health, made and distributed the VESper Ventilator Expansion Splitter, which uses 3D printing technology, to allow one ventilator to support two patients. *Johnson & Johnson **Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Consumer Healthcare Division) ***Dabao Cosmetics Co. ***Johnson & Johnson Consumer France SAS ****Groupe Vendome SA ***LGE Performance Systems, Inc. ***HealthMedia, Inc. ***Vogue International LLC ***TriStrata Inc. ****NeoStrata Company, Inc. ***Zarbee's, Inc. **Medical Devices Division ***

Biosense Webster Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

(Acq 1997) ****Coherex Medical, Inc. (Acq 2015) ***

Synthes Synthes Holding AG (formerly Synthes-Stratec) is a Multinational corporation, multinational medical device manufacturer based in Solothurn, Switzerland and West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the world's largest maker of Implant (med ...

(Acq 1998) ****Codman & Shurteff, Inc. (Acq 1965) *****Micrus Endovascular *****Pulsar Vascular Inc. *****Neuravi ****DePuy Mitek, Inc. ****DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. *****Biomedical Enterprises, Inc. ****DePuy Spine, Inc *****Interventional Spine, Inc. ****DePuy Synthes Products, Inc *****Sentio, LLC ****Olive Medical Corporation ****Advanced Sterilization Products (Divested 2018) *****Apsis SAS ******Gloster Europe ******Orthotaxy ****Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH *****Surgical Process Institute *****Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH (Acq. 2017) ***

Ethicon, Inc. Ethicon, Inc. is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johnson & Johnson product line. Ethicon has manufactured surgical sutures a ...

(Est. 1944 as Ethicon Suture Laboratories) ****G. F. Merson Ltd (Acq. 1947) **** Mentor (Acq. 2008) ****Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. ****Acclarent ****NeuWave Medical, Inc ****Torax Medical ****Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd *****Guangzhou Bioseal Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ****

Ethicon Endo-Surgery Ethicon, Inc. is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johnson & Johnson product line. Ethicon has manufactured surgical sutures and ...

*****SurgRx, Inc. *****SterilMed, Inc. *****Megadyne Medical Products, Inc. ****Auris Health Inc ****Verb Surgical Inc *** Abiomed Inc (Acq. pending) ****Impella CardioSystems AG (Acq. 2005) ****ECP Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Acq. 2014) *****Aachen Innovative Solution GmbH ****preCARDIA (Acq. 2021) ****Breethe (Acq. 2020) **Janssen Diagnostics BVBA ** Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. ***

Vistakon Acuvue (from "Accurate view") is a brand of disposable contact lenses made in Jacksonville Florida and Limerick-based Vistakon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Overview Acuvue lenses got their start at Frontier Contact Lens Company, fo ...

*** Abbott Medical Optics (Acq. 2017) ***

***Sightbox **Pharmaceuticals Division *** Janssen Pharmaceutica (Acq. 1961) **** Cilag (Acq. 1959) *****J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited (OTC Division) *****Covagen ****CorImmun GmbH ****Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ****Alios BioPharma, Inc. ****Novira Therapeutics, Inc. ****

(Acq. 2017) ****

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Momenta is an autonomous driving company headquartered in Beijing, China that aims to build the 'Brains' for autonomous vehicles. In December 2021, Momenta and BYD established a 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) joint venture to deploy autonomous ...

(Acq. 2020) ***Janssen R&D LLC ***Janssen Healthcare Innovation ***Janssen Biotech, Inc. ****Ortho Biotech Inc. *****Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. ******Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB *******Amic AB ****Kite Merger Sub, Inc. *****Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. ****RespiVert ****BeneVir Biopharm, Inc. *** Janssen Therapeutics ****Janssen Diagnostics ****Janssen Scientific Affairs ***

(Acq. 2010) ***Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. ****Janssen-Ortho ****Ortho-McNeil **** McNeil Consumer Healthcare (Acq. 1959)

Janssen COVID-19 vaccine

In June 2020, Johnson & Johnson and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed its intention to start a clinical trials of J&J's vaccine in September 2020, with the possibility of Phase 1/2a human clinical trials starting at an accelerated pace in the second half of July. On 5 August 2020, the US government agreed to pay more than $1 billion to Johnson and Johnson (medical device company) for the production of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. As part of the agreed-upon deal, the U.S. can order up to 200 million additional doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. In September 2020, Johnson & Johnson started its 60,000-person phase 3

adenovirus Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from the ...

-based vaccine trial. The trial was paused on October 12, 2020, because a volunteer became ill, but the company said it found no evidence that the vaccine had caused the illness and announced on October 23, 2020, that it would resume the trial. In April 2021, the company reported that its Covid-19 vaccine achieved $100 million sales in the first quarter, accounting for less than 1% of its total revenue.

Business sectors

The company's business is divided into three major business sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Medtech, and Consumer Health. In 2020, these segments contributed 55%, 28%, and 17%, respectively, of the company's total revenues.

Pharmaceuticals

The Pharmaceutical segment is focused on six therapeutic areas: Immunology (rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis);

Infectious Diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

(HIV/AIDS); Neuroscience (mood disorders, neurodegenerative disorders and schizophrenia); Oncology (prostate cancer and hematologic malignancies); Cardiovascular, Metabolism, & Retina (thrombosis and diabetes), and Pulmonary Hypertension (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension).

Medtech

The Cardiovascular & Specialty Solutions Group includes electrophysiology products that diagnose and treat cardiac arrhythmias; devices used in the endovascular treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke; solutions that focus on breast reconstruction and aesthetics, and ear, nose and throat procedures. The orthopaedics portfolio is composed of specialties including joint reconstruction, trauma, extremities, craniomaxillofacial, spinal surgery and sports medicine, in addition to the VELY digital surgery portfolio. The surgery portfolio includes advanced surgical innovations and solutions such as sutures, staplers, energy devices, and advanced

hemostat A hemostat (also called a hemostatic clamp, arterial forceps, or pean after Jules-Émile Péan) is a surgical tool used in many surgical procedures to control bleeding. For this reason, it is common in the initial phases of surgery for the initia ...

s along with interventional ablation, surgical robotics, and digital solutions. The Johnson & Johnson Vision portfolio includes

, intraocular lens, automated treatment for dry eye, and four brands of laser vision correction systems.

Consumer health

The Consumer Health Business Sector includes a broad range of products focused on personal healthcare used in the skin health/beauty, over-the-counter medicines, baby care, oral care, women's health, and wound care markets. It comprises skin health/beauty, self-care, and essential health categories. The skin health/beauty category includes personalized skin health assessments, treatments for acne, eczema and aging signs, and cleansers, moisturizers, and

sunscreen Sunscreen, also known as sunblock or sun cream, is a photoprotective topical product for the skin that mainly absorbs, or to a much lesser extent reflects, some of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation and thus helps protect against sunburn and ...

s. The self-care category includes medicines for

pain relief Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals pr ...

, smoking cessation, allergy, anti-diarrheal, antacids,

nasal decongestants Topical decongestants are decongestants applied directly to the nasal cavity. Their effectiveness by themselves in the common cold appears to have a small benefit in adults. Topical decongestants should only be used by patients for a maximum of 5� ...

, and cough and colds. The essential health category includes products for wound care,

oral care Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and cleaning between the teeth. It is important that oral hygiene be carried out ...

baby care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

and women's health. In September 2022, Johnson & Johnson chose Kenvue as the new name for its Consumer Health business.

Finance

For the fiscal year 2018, Johnson & Johnson reported earnings of $15.3billion, with an annual revenue of $81.6billion, an increase of 6.7% over the previous fiscal cycle. Johnson & Johnson's shares traded at over $126 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over $367.5billion in September 2018.

Corporate governance

The current members of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson for 2022 are: Mary C. Beckerle; D Scott Davis; Ian E. L. Davis; Jennifer A Doudna;

;

Marillyn A. Hewson Marillyn Adams Hewson (born December 27, 1953) is an American businesswoman who served as the chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lockheed Martin from January 2013 to June 2020. She is currently the strategic advisor to the ...

; Hubert Joly;

Mark B. McClellan Mark Barr McClellan (born June 26, 1963) is the director of the Robert J Margolis Center for Health Policy and the Margolis Professor of Business, Medicine and Health Policy at Duke University. Formerly, he was a senior fellow and director of the ...

;

Anne M. Mulcahy Anne M. Mulcahy (born October 21, 1952) is the former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation. She was named CEO of Xerox on August 1, 2001, and chairwoman on January 1, 2002. In addition to serving on the Xerox board, she has been a member of t ...

;

A. Eugene Washington A. Eugene Washington (born 1951) is an American physician, clinical investigator, and administrator. He served as the chancellor for health affairs at Duke University, and the president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health S ...

;

Mark A. Weinberger Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

; Nadja Y. West; Ronald A. Williams; Darius Adamczyk. The current members of the Executive Committee of Johnson & Johnson are: Joaquin Duato; Vanessa Broadhurst; Peter Fasolo; William N. Hait; Mathai Mammen; Ashley McEvoy; Thibaut Mongon; James Swanson; Jennifer Taubert; Michael Ullman; Kathy Wengel; Joseph J. Wolk. On January 3, 2022, Joaquin Duato became Chief Executive Officer. Alex Gorsky remains Executive Chairman.

Chairmen

Robert Wood Johnson I Robert Wood Johnson I (February 20, 1845 – February 7, 1910) was an American industrialist. He was also one of the three brothers who founded Johnson & Johnson. Early life Johnson was born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. His father was Sylvest ...

(1887–1910) *

(1910–1932) *

(1932–1963) *

(1963–1973) *

Richard B. Sellars Richard Beverland Sellars (September 9, 1915 – June 25, 2010) was an American business executive who served as chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson as part of 40 years with the healthcare product firm. Sellars played a pivotal role in keeping t ...

(1973–1976) *

(1976–1989) *

Ralph S. Larsen Ralph S. Larsen (November 18, 1938 – March 9, 2016) was an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson from 1989 to 2002.

(1989–2002) *

(2002–2012) *

(2012–2022)

Headquarters and the New Brunswick gentrification

The company has historically been located on the Delaware and Raritan Canal in New Brunswick. The company considered moving its headquarters out of New Brunswick in the 1960s but decided to stay in the town after city officials promised to revitalize downtown New Brunswick by demolishing old buildings and constructing new ones. While New Brunswick lost many historic structures, including the early home of Rutgers University, and most of its historic commercial waterfront to the redevelopment effort, the gentrification did attract people back to New Brunswick. Johnson & Johnson hired Henry N. Cobb from Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to design its new headquarters. Johnson and Johnson Plaza, in a park across the railroad tracks from the older portion of the headquarters, is one of tallest buildings in New Brunswick. The stretch of Delaware and Raritan canal by the company's headquarters was replaced by a stretch of Route 18 in the late 1970s, after a lengthy dispute. In 2002, the company released its plan of setting up

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

information technology headquarters in New South Wales within five years.

Environmental record

Johnson & Johnson has set several positive goals to keep the company environmentally friendly and was ranked third among the United States's largest companies in '' Newsweek''s "Green Rankings". Some examples are the reduction in water use, waste, and energy use and an increased level of transparency. Johnson & Johnson agreed to change its packaging of plastic bottles used in the manufacturing process, switching their packaging of liquids to non- polyvinyl chloride containers.Environment New Service
December 8, 2004. Retrieved May 4, 2008 The corporation is working with the Climate Northwest Initiative and the EPA National Environmental Performance Track program. As a member of the national Green Power Partnership, Johnson & Johnson operates the largest solar power generator in Pennsylvania at its site in

Fort Washington, Pennsylvania Fort Washington is a census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census. History Prior to the Revolutionary War the Fort Washington area was settle ...

Recalls and litigation

1982 Chicago Tylenol murders

On September 29, 1982, a "Tylenol scare" began when the first of seven individuals died in Chicago metropolitan area, after ingesting Extra Strength Tylenol that had been deliberately laced with

cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a ...

. Within a week, the company pulled 31 million bottles of capsules back from retailers, making it one of the first major recalls in American history. The incident led to reforms in the packaging of

over-the-counter substance Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer without a requirement for a prescription from a healthcare professional, as opposed to prescription drugs, which may be supplied only to consumers possessing a valid prescr ...

s and to federal anti-tampering laws. The case remains unsolved and no suspects have been charged. Johnson & Johnson's quick response, including a nationwide recall, was widely praised by public relations experts and the media and was the gold standard for corporate crisis management.

2010 children's product recall

On April 30, 2010, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, voluntarily recalled 43 over-the-counter children's medicines, including Tylenol, Tylenol Plus,

Zyrtec Cetirizine, sold under the brand name Zyrtec among others, is a second-generation antihistamine used to treat allergic rhinitis (hay fever), dermatitis, and urticaria (hives). It is taken by mouth. Effects generally begin within thirty minutes a ...

and Benadryl. The recall was conducted after a routine inspection at a manufacturing facility in

, United States, revealed that some "products may not fully meet the required manufacturing specifications". Affected products may contain a "higher concentration of active ingredients" or exhibit other manufacturing defects. Products shipped to Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guam,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

were included in the recall. In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said "a comprehensive quality assessment across its manufacturing operations" was underway. A dedicated website was established by the compan
listing
affected products and other consumer information.

2010 hip-replacement recall

On August 24, 2010, DePuy, a subsidiary of American giant Johnson & Johnson, recalled its ASR (articular surface replacement) hip prostheses from the market. DePuy said the recall was due to unpublished National Joint Registry data showing a 12% revision rate for resurfacing at five years and an ASR XL revision rate of 13%. All hip prostheses fail in some patients, but it is expected that the rate will be about 1% a year. Pathologically, the failing prosthesis had several effects. Metal debris from wear of the implant led to a reaction that destroyed the soft tissues surrounding the joint, leaving some patients with long term disability. Ions of cobalt and chromiumthe metals from which the implant was madewere also released into the blood and cerebral spinal fluid in some patients. In March 2013, a jury in Los Angeles ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $8.3million in damages to a Montana man in the first of more than 10,000 lawsuits pending against the company in connection with the now-recalled DePuy hip. Some lawyers and industry analysts have estimated that the suits ultimately will cost Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars to resolve.

2010 Tylenol recall

In 2010 and 2011, Johnson & Johnson voluntarily recalled some over-the-counter products, including Tylenol, due to an odor caused by tribromoanisole.Tylenol Recall Expands
WebMD Health News, January 18, 2010 In this case,

2,4,6-tribromophenol 2,4,6-Tribromophenol (TBP) is a brominated derivative of phenol. It is used as a fungicide, as a wood preservative, and an intermediate in the preparation of flame retardants. Production Although natural TBP has been identified in ocean sedim ...

was used to treat wooden pallets on which product packaging materials were transported and stored.

Shareholders lawsuit

In 2010 a group of shareholders sued the board for allegedly failing to take action to prevent serious failings and illegalities since the 1990s, including manufacturing problems, bribing officials, covering up adverse effects and misleading marketing for unapproved uses. The judge initially dismissed the case in September 2011, but allowed the plaintiffs opportunity to refile at a later time. In 2012 Johnson and Johnson proposed a settlement with the shareholders, whereby the company would institute new oversight, quality and compliance procedures binding for five years.

Illegal marketing of Risperdal

Juries in several US states have found J&J guilty of concealing the adverse effects of Janssen Pharmaceuticals' antipsychotic medication

Risperdal Risperidone, sold under the brand name Risperdal among others, is an atypical antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is taken either by mouth or by injection (subcutaneous or intramuscular). The injectable versions ...

, produced by its unit, in order to promote it to doctors and patients as better than cheaper generics, and of falsely marketing it for treating patients with dementia. States that have awarded damages include Texas ($158million), South Carolina ($327million), Louisiana ($258million), and most notably Arkansas ($1.2billion). In 2010, the United States Department of Justice joined a whistleblowers suit accusing the company of illegally marketing Risperdal through

Omnicare Omnicare is an American company working in the health care industry. It was established in April 1981 as a spinoff of healthcare businesses from Chemed and W. R. Grace and Company. It is currently a pharmacy specializing in nursing homes. In 201 ...

, the largest company supplying pharmaceuticals to nursing homes. The allegations include that J&J were warned by the FDA to not promote Risperdal as effective and safe for elderly patients, but they did so, and that they paid Omnicare to promote the drug to care home physicians. The settlement was finalized on November 4, 2013, with J&J agreeing to pay a penalty of around $2.2billion, "including criminal fines and forfeiture totaling $485million and civil settlements with the federal government and states totaling $1.72billion". Johnson & Johnson has also been subject to congressional investigations related to payments given to psychiatrists to promote its products and

ghost write A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

articles, notably Joseph Biederman and his pediatric bipolar disorder research unit.

Foreign bribery

In 2011, J&J settled litigation brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission under the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applicable world ...

and paid around $70M in disgorgement and fines. J&J's employees had given kickbacks and bribes to doctors in Greece, Poland, and Romania to obtain business selling drugs and medical devices and had bribed officials in Iraq to win contracts under the Oil for Food program. J&J fully cooperated with the investigation once the problems came to light.

Consumer fraud settlements

In May 2017, J&J reached an agreement to pay $33million to several states to settle consumer fraud allegations in some of the company's over-the-counter drugs.

Use of the Red Cross symbol

Johnson & Johnson registered the Red Cross as a U.S. trademark for "medicinal and surgical plasters" in 1905 and has used the design since 1887. The Geneva Conventions, which reserved the Red Cross emblem for specific uses, were first approved in 1864 and ratified by the United States in 1882. However, the emblem was not protected by U.S. law for the use of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

(ARC) and the U.S. military until after Johnson & Johnson had obtained its trademark. A clause in this law (now 18 U.S.C. 706) permits this pre-existing use of the Red Cross to continue. A declaration made by the U.S. upon its ratification of the 1949 Geneva Conventions includes a

reservation __NOTOC__ Reservation may refer to: Places Types of places: * Indian reservation, in the United States * Military base, often called reservations * Nature reserve Government and law * Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty * Reservation in India, ...

that pre-1905 U.S. domestic uses of the Red Cross, such as Johnson & Johnson's, would remain lawful as long as the cross is not used on "aircraft, vessels, vehicles, buildings or other structures, or upon the ground," i.e., uses which could be confused with its military uses. This means that the U.S. did not agree to any interpretation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions that would overrule Johnson & Johnson's trademark. The American Red Cross continues to recognize the validity of Johnson & Johnson's trademark. In August 2007, Johnson & Johnson filed a lawsuit against the ARC, demanding that the charity halt the use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public, though the company takes no issue with the charity's use of the mark for non-profit purposes. In May 2008, the judge in the case dismissed most of Johnson & Johnson's claims, and a month later the two organizations announced a settlement had been reached in which both parties would continue to use the symbol.

Boston Scientific lawsuits

Since 2003, Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific have both claimed that the other had infringed on their patents covering

heart stent A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease. It is used in a procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (P ...

medical devices. The litigation was settled when Boston Scientific agreed to pay $716million to Johnson & Johnson in September 2009 and an additional $1.73billion in February 2010. Their dispute was renewed in 2014, now on the grounds of a contract dispute.

Patent-infringement case against Abbott

In 2007, Johnson & Johnson sued

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known dr ...

over the development and sale of the arthritis drug Humira, claiming Abbott used technology licensed exclusively to Johnson & Johnson's

Centocor Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American ...

division. Johnson & Johnson won the court case, and in 2009 Abbott was ordered to pay Johnson & Johnson $1.17billion in lost revenues and $504million in royalties.Abbott Told to Pay Record $1.67billion Award to J&J
''Bloomberg News'', June 29, 2009 The judge also added $175.6million in interest to bring the total to $1.84billion.
''Bloomberg News'', November 2, 2010 This was the largest patent-infringement award in U.S. history until the 2013 decision against Teva in favor of Takeda and Pfizer for over $2.1billion.Pfizer, Takeda to Get $2.15Billion Settlement
''WSJ'', 6 12 2013 In 2010 Abbott appealed the verdict and in 2011 won the appeal.

Vaginal mesh implants

Tens of thousands of women worldwide have taken legal action against Johnson & Johnson after suffering serious complications following a vaginal mesh implant procedure. In Australia, more than 700 women began a class action against the company in the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

in 2017, telling the court they "suffered irreparable, debilitating pain after the devices began to erode into surrounding tissue and organs, causing infections and complications". The class action alleged that Johnson & Johnson, which "aggressively marketed" the implants "failed to properly warn patients and surgeons of the risk, or test the devices adequately". Emails between executives show the company was aware of the risks in 2005 but still went ahead and made the product available. In November 2019 the

found Johnson & Johnson negligent. The judgment was appealed, with the appeals court upholding all findings of Justice Anna Katzman. Ethicon then sought a High Court decision but this was not permttted by the High Court of Australia. Subsequently (September 2022) a $AU 300, 000, 000 compensation agreement was reached between Shine Lawyers and J&J but this agreement remains subject to approval by the Federal Court of Australia. In the US in 2016 the U.S. states of California and Washington filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of deception. In October 2019, the company and its subsidiary, Ethicon, Inc. reached a settlement with 41 states and the District of Columbia, with no admission of liability, in a suit alleging deceptive marketing of transvaginal surgical-mesh devices. The suit also alleges that the company failed to disclose risks associated with the product, which J&J pulled from the US market in 2012. The amount settled in the suit was about $117million.

Baby powder

J&J has been the subject of over 26,000 lawsuits claiming that its baby powder causes ovarian cancer. The lawsuits focus on claims that the talc-based powder is contaminated with

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

, a known carcinogen commonly found in places where talc is mined. In 2016, J&J was ordered to pay $72million in damages to the family of Jacqueline Fox, a 62-year-old woman who died of ovarian cancer in 2015. The company said it would appeal. A year later, over 1,000 U.S. women had sued J&J for covering up the possible cancer risk from its Baby Powder product. The company says that 70% of its Baby Powder is used by adults. Later that year, a California jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $417million to a woman who claimed she developed ovarian cancer after using the company's talc-based products like Johnson's Baby Powder for feminine hygiene. The verdict included $70million in compensatory damages and $347million in punitive damages. J&J said they would appeal the verdict. The Missouri Eastern District appeals court later negated a $72million jury verdict in the Jacqueline Fox lawsuit, ruling it lacked jurisdiction in Missouri because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that imposed limits on where injury lawsuit can be filed. Subsequently, this ruling killed three other recent St. Louis jury verdicts of more than $200million combined. Fox, 62, of Birmingham, Alabama, died in 2015, about four months before her trial was held in St. Louis Circuit Court. She was among 65 plaintiffs, of whom only two were from Missouri. A St. Louis jury awarded nearly $4.7billion in damages to 22 women and their families in 2018 after they claimed that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder caused their ovarian cancer. In August, J&J said that it removed several chemicals from baby powder products and re-engineered them to make consumers more confident that products were safer for children. The company was forced to release internal documents with 11,700 people suing J&J over cancers allegedly caused by baby powder. The documents showed that the company had known about asbestos contamination since at least as early as 1971 and had spent decades finding ways to conceal the evidence from the public. The company lost its request to reverse a jury verdict that ruled in favor of the accusers, which required the company to pay $4.14billion in punitive damages and $550million in compensatory damages. A large study performed in 2003 found that ovarian cancer risk increased from a baseline of 0.0121% to 0.0161% in people who reported regularly using talc in the genital area. Two more studies over the next twelve years, which also relied on self-reporting, had similar results; however, none of the three studies showed a relationship between how long someone used talc and how much their cancer risk increased, which is expected in experiments with carcinogens and other toxic substances (see dose-response relationship). Conversely, a St. Louis jury ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson in the case of a single plaintiff who had used the company's talc-containing baby powder for thirty years with a similar claim. The company's CEO, Alex Gorsky, declined to appear at a United States congressional hearing on the safety of J&J's Baby Powder and other talc-based cosmetics. J&J spokesman Ernie Knewitz said that the subcommittee had rejected the company's offers to send a talc testing expert or a J&J executive in charge of consumer products. In response to declining demand, J&J announced it would discontinue the sale of talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada in 2020, but would continue to sell it in other markets. In a statement, the company said that the existing retail inventory of the talc-based powder will sell until it runs out, while the company's cornstarch-based baby powder will continue to sell in the United States and Canada. The Supreme Court of Missouri refused to consider J&J's appeal of a $2.12 billion damages award to women who blamed their ovarian cancer on its talc-based products. The

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

also refused to consider an appeal from J&J, leaving in place a judgment from a state appeal court that had cut the original award to $2.1 billion. Two of the justices had to recuse:

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has served ...

because either he and/or his wife owning or recently owning stock in J&J, and Brett Kavanaugh, whose father led an industry group lobbying against safety warnings on talc products. Representing the affected women during the trial,

Mark Lanier William Mark Lanier (born October 20, 1960Koppel, Nathan. "Lone Star Rising" ''The American Lawyer''. March 2004.) is an American trial lawyer and founder and CEO of the Lanier Law Firm. He has led a number of high profile product litigation sui ...

remarked that the Supreme Court's decision sent "a clear message to the rich and powerful: You will be held to account when you cause grievous harm under our system of equal justice under law." J&J had argued that the combined claims in the St. Louis trial were too different, yet the short jury deliberation and identical payouts were, therefore, a violation of the company's due process and also that the high punitive award was unconstitutional. In 2021, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management LLC, using a process called a

Texas divisional merger In the United States, bankruptcy is largely governed by federal law, commonly referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code" ("Code"). The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4) authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subje ...

, filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in North Carolina. The process allowed by Texas law lets a company create a separate subsidiary to take over liabilities, with the existing company operating normally. The new company, with a different name, can locate in a state such as North Carolina where bankruptcy laws are different, and then declare bankruptcy, paying less than the original company would have. In the case of LTL, a $2 billion trust will be created, compared to $25 billion if Johnson & Johnson had declared bankruptcy. According to the filing, a company known as Old JJCI took on the baby powder related liabilities in 1979, while Johnson & Johnson remained a defendant. LTL and New JJCI were created with LTL taking the baby powder related liabilities and some assets, and New JJCI taking the remaining assets. Johnson & Johnson says LTL is now based in New Jersey. The company announced that it would stop making talc-based powder by 2023 and replace it with cornstarch-based powders. The company says the talc-based powder is safe to use and does not contain asbestos.

Opioid epidemic

By 2018, the company had become embroiled in the opioid epidemic in the United States and had become a target of

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

s. Over 500 opioid-related cases have been filed as of May 2018 against J&J and its competitors. In Idaho, J&J is part of a lawsuit accusing the company for being partially to blame for opioid-related overdose deaths. The first major trial began in Oklahoma in May 2019. On August 26, 2019, the Oklahoma judge ordered J&J to pay $572million for their part in the opioid crisis, and in October J&J paid $20.4million to two Ohio counties fighting the opioid epidemic. In January 2022, Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay up to $5 billion as part of a $26 billion settlement which included

McKesson McKesson Corporation is an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceuticals used in North America and emplo ...

, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health. Had the states gone to court, the companies could have faced up to $95 billion in penalties.

Northeastern Ohio Settlement

In October 2019, the company agreed to a settlement of $20.4million with two Ohio counties Cuyahoga ( Cleveland) and

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

( Akron). The settlement allows the company avoidance of a trial accusing J&J and many other pharmaceutical manufacturers of helping to spark the US opioid epidemic. The trial was thought to be an indicator for thousands of opioid-related lawsuits against many drug manufacturers. The arrangement, which contains no admission of liability by the company, provides the counties $10million in cash, $5million for legal expenses and $5.4million in contributions to opioid-related non-profit organizations in the counties.

Public-private engagement

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries engage with the public and private sectors in a variety of settings including to promote

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

, academic funding, event sponsorship,

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and political lobbying.

Academia

* J&J is a matching gift donor to the Institute for Advanced Study.

Activism

* J&J is a corporate partner of

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

, a large LGBT advocacy group. * J&J is a financial supporter of

Women Deliver Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that works to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5, which is improving maternal health. This is a multifactorial approach, involving acce ...

Political lobbying

Johnson & Johnson is engaged in various forms of lobbying in the United States, Canada and internationally, including through

corporate philanthropy Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in ...

and membership in lobbying organizations. * J&J is one of the largest donors to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), having donated between $5–10 million from 2000 to 2020. * J&J is a partner of the

Pandemic Action Network A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...

. * J&J is a member company of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade association that lobbies the

U.S. Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. PhRMA has offices in Washington, D.C.,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the United Arab Emirates. * J&J is a member of the

Personalized Medicine Coalition Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or a product to accommodate specific individuals, sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. A wide variety of organizations use personalization to improv ...

, a medical research advocacy group that lobbies on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry to increase funding for personalized medicine research and development. * J&J is a member company of the

National Pharmaceutical Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(NPC), a non-profit that advocates for expanded research funding and innovation.

Research and development

J&J has provided research grants and major funding to the

C. D. Howe Institute The C. D. Howe Institute (french: Institut C. D. Howe) is a Canadian nonprofit policy research organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It aims to be distinguished by "research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based, and subject to definitive exper ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson and Johnson Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange 1886 establishments in New Jersey Companies based in New Brunswick, New Jersey American companies established in 1886 Dental companies of the United States Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Health care companies based in New Jersey Personal care companies Pharmaceutical companies based in New Jersey Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Orphan drug companies Life sciences industry Conglomerate companies of the United States Medical technology companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies established in 1886 1940s initial public offerings COVID-19 vaccine producers