As an American global firm that makes medical equipment, medicines, and consumer packaged products, Johnson & Johnson (or J&J) was established in 1886. Components of the company’s shares are included in the S&P 500 index, and it is placed No. 36 in this year’s Fortune 500 ranking of the top US firms by sales. With a AAA credit rating, Johnson & Johnson is the only U.S.-based company with a prime credit rating better than that of the federal government.
Skillman, New Jersey serves as the headquarters for Johnson & Johnson’s consumer business, which is based out of New Brunswick. More than 175 nations buy and sell the company’s goods, which are distributed via 250 subsidiary firms in 60 different countries. In the year 2020, Johnson & Johnson made $82.6 billion in global sales. Johnson & Johnson has a wide variety of well-known trademarks in the pharmaceutical and first aid industries. Band-Aid Brand bandages, Tylenol pharmaceuticals, Johnson’s Baby products, Neutrogena skin and beauty products, Clean & Clear face cleanser, and Acuvue contact lenses are just a few of the company’s well-known consumer items. The pharmaceutical branch of Johnson & Johnson is Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Consumer goods and medicines will be the emphasis of one business, which will go public in November of that year.
HISTORY
When Robert Wood Johnson was 16, he started working at his mother’s cousin’s pharmacy in Poughkeepsie, New York, as a pharmaceutical apprentice. Johnson co-founded his own firm with George Seabury in 1873. It was Seabury & Johnson’s medicated plasters that made them famous in New York. At the 1876 Chicago World’s Fair, the firm was represented by Robert Wood Johnson. There, he heard Joseph Lister describe a brand-new surgical technique called antiseptic surgery. In 1885, Johnson and his business partner Seabury broke up.
It was on this day in 1886 that the firm of Johnson & Johnson was founded.
Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson teamed together in 1886 to establish a line of ready-to-use sterile surgical bandages under the trademarked brand. Eight women and six men made up Johnson & Johnson’s first 14 workers. Sterilized surgical supplies, domestic goods, and medical instructions were all made by them. Those items used to have a logo that looked a lot like James Wood Johnson’s signature, which is extremely close to the one we have now. The corporation was founded by Robert Wood Johnson, who served as its first president.
Early history, 1887–1942
Sterilized surgical supplies such as sutures, cotton, and gauze were among the first items the firm produced and distributed, and the company was known for its medicated plasters like Johnson & Johnson’s Black Perfect Taffeta Court Plaster.
It developed “Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment,” a handbook on how to do sterile surgery using its products, and delivered 85,000 copies to surgeons and pharmacists throughout the United States in 1888.
The guide was made available in three languages and in over 100 countries. When railroad construction workers were typically hundreds of miles from medical treatment, the first commercial first aid bag was produced in 1888. Antiseptic emergency supplies and instructions for usage in the field were included in the kits. The Handbook of First Aid, a manual for administering first aid, was published by the firm in 1901.
Fred Kilmer, a pharmacist, was appointed as the company’s first scientific director in 1889, and he was responsible for conducting scientific research and writing teaching materials for the company’s products. As scientific director, Kilmer developed the industrial sterilising technique, his first major accomplishment. For the rest of his career, he worked for the corporation.
By 1894, Johnson & Johnson employed over 400 people and occupied 14 different buildings. Johnson’s Infant Powder, the company’s first baby product, was introduced in 1894.
Maternity kits were created in 1894 by the firm to help with at-home deliveries. Johnson’s Baby Powder, antiseptic soap, and sanitary napkins were included in the package.Eventually, the items were sold individually, including the first ever mass-produced sanitary napkins, “Lister’s Towels”. Maternal hygiene is the subject of “Hygiene in Maternity,” a handbook for new moms. In 1904, the firm introduced “Lister’s Sanitary Diapers,” a diaper for newborns, to their line of baby care items.
Compressed surgical bandages for troops and a trauma stretcher for field medics were developed and provided by Johnson & Johnson during the Spanish–American War. In the wake of the 1900 Galveston storm and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the firm donated their wares to help those in need.
All of Johnson & Johnson’s workers were given smallpox vaccinations during the outbreak that ravaged the country in 1901. Over 1,200 individuals worked at the company in 1910. A quarter of the company’s divisions were headed by women, who made up half of the company’s workers.
Robert Wood Johnson died in 1910, and his brother James Wood Johnson took over as president of the corporation.
To satisfy the needs of the military, Johnson & Johnson facilities ramped up output during World War I. To keep up with demand, the business bought Chicopee Manufacturing Company in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, in 1916. The 1918 flu pandemic occurred at the conclusion of World War I. An epidemic mask was developed and supplied by the corporation to assist stop the spread of the virus.
It was in 1919 that Johnson & Johnson built its first facility outside the United States, the Gilmour Plant in Montreal, where it made surgical items for export. Slough, England, became the company’s first international production plant in 1924.
A Johnson & Johnson product, adhesive tape, and gauze, were combined by Earle Dickson in 1920 to make the first commercial adhesive bandage. The next year, Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages went on sale. Johnson’s Baby Soap was introduced to the market in 1921. Johnson & Johnson developed a textile mill and corporate town, Chicopee, south of Gainesville, Georgia, named after its Massachusetts operation. Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa were all added to the company’s activities in the 1930s. Ortho-Gynol was the first prescription contraceptive gel developed by Johnson & Johnson in 1931.
In 1932, Robert Wood Johnson II became the company’s president.
Johnson & Johnson maintained all of its employees employed and hiked pay by 5% throughout the Great Depression. Bob Johnson II wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, requesting that the federal government pass legislation that would raise pay and cut working hours for all American workers. During that time, the business also established a new factory in Chicago. As a means of persuading business executives to join him in his belief that business is about more than just profit, Johnson wrote and distributed “Try Reality: A Discussion on Hours, Wages, and the Industrial Future.” In subsequent years, the company’s motto would be derived from the part headed “An Industrial Philosophy” in the book “Try Reality.”
Johnson’s Baby Oil was introduced to the company’s product range in 1935. During World War II, both men and women from Johnson & Johnson were conscripted and enlisted. The corporation made sure that no one would lose their jobs when they returned from their vacation. As the new head of the Smaller War Plants Corporation in the nation’s capital, Robert Wood Johnson II has been named. As a result of his efforts, federal contracts were granted to U.S. manufacturers with less than 500 people.
Credo and going public in 1943–1944
“Our Credo” was written by Robert Wood Johnson in 1943 as the corporation prepared for its first public offering (IPO). In 1944, the firm went public after completing its first public offering (IPO).
The McNeil Consumer Healthcare Company was founded in 1959
Robert McNeil started McNeil Consumer Healthcare on March 16th, 1879 in New York City, New York. Robert Lincoln McNeil, one of McNeil’s sons, joined the firm in 1904, and in 1933 they formed McNeil Laboratories. The company’s primary goal was to sell prescription medications directly to physicians, pharmacies, and hospitals. Robert L. McNeil Jr., who subsequently served as the company’s chairman, led the development of acetaminophen. After Johnson & Johnson purchased McNeil Laboratories in 1959, Tylenol could be sold without a prescription for the first time.
McNeil Medical Products and McNeil Consumer Products Company were established as McNeil subsidiaries in 1977. (also known as McNeil Consumer Healthcare). To become Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, McNeil Medical Products joined with Ortho Pharmaceutical in 1993 and became McNeil Medical Products. McNeil Consumer Healthcare was renamed McNeil Consumer & Specialty Medical Products in 2001, when the company’s name was changed. McNeil Consumer Healthcare was the new name for the company.
During the year 1959, Cilag was established.
Bernhard Joos, a Swiss chemist, opened a modest laboratory in Schaffhausen in 1933. As a result, on May 12, 1936, ChemischeIndustrie-Labor AG (often known as Cilag) was established. Cilag began working at Johnson & Johnson in 1959. Janssen-Cilag was formed in the early 1990s when Cilag and Janssen Pharmaceutica merged their marketing teams. There are no changes to the names of the non-marketing departments.
Founded in 1961, Janssen Pharmacies
For the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Belgian Congo, Paul Janssen’s father, Constant, obtained the distribution rights to Richter Pharmaceuticals in 1933.
Heinrich Richter started the N.V. Produkten Richter on October 23, 1934 in the town of Turnhout. The corporation was renamed Eupharma during World War II, while Richter remained the original name until 1956.
When Paul Janssen’s father launched Richter-Eurpharma in 1956, he established a research facility of his own inside the corporation. The firm was renamed NV Laboratoria Pharmaceutica C. Janssen on April 5th, 1956. (named after Constant Janssen). The N.V. Research Laboratorium C. Janssen was established as a distinct legal organisation on May 2, 1958, when the research department in Beerse was split off. Johnson & Johnson purchased the firm on October 24, 1961.
Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. was renamed on February 10, 1964.
In 1999, Johnson & Johnson established a worldwide clinical and non-clinical development division. In 2001, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development restructured a section of their research efforts in the United States. Researchers from the Janssen Research Foundation and R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute joined forces to form a single institution to conduct world-wide studies on pharmaceuticals. The Paul Janssen Research Center was established on October 27th, 2004.
The business purchased Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in August 2013. For $1.75 billion, Janssen Pharmaceuticals bought Alios BioPharma, Inc. in November 2014. Alios is now part of Janssen’s infectious diseases pharmaceutical portfolio.
Its CNS drugs include Concerta (methylphenidate extended release), Invega Sustenna (paliperidone palmitate) and Risperdal Consta (long-acting injectable antipsychotics) (risperidone). First commonly used long-acting depot injections for schizophrenia were Invega Sustenna and Risperdal Consta. Intramuscular injections are used to deliver them at two-week and one-month intervals, respectively, to help patients who have difficulty adhering to oral medication. Some research shows that the benefits of long-acting injections in clinical practise may be higher than is easily established in the clinical trial context.
1998: DePuy Synthetics
In 1998, Johnson & Johnson purchased DePuy and incorporated it into its Medical Devices division.
Hemorrhagic or ischemic strokes may be treated with new minimally invasive devices developed by Micrus Endovascular, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in September 2010. Codman Neurovascular, a division of Codman & Shurtleff, Inc., manages Micrus.
Synthes was bought by Johnson & Johnson on June 14, 2012, for $19.7 billion. Among the DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson that were created as a result of this transaction are: Codman &Shurteff, Inc., DePuy Mitek, Inc., and DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. DePuy announced in February 2015 that it was buying Olive Medical Corporation. An industry leader in tiny bone repair was bought in May 2016 by DePuy Orthopaedics. DePuy Synthes announced the acquisition of Pulsar Vascular Inc. in December of the same year, bringing Pulsar under its Codman business.
It purchased Interventional Spine, Inc. in January of this year.
It was revealed in April 2017 that Ireland’s DePuy Ireland subsidiary will buy Neuravi in a transaction led by Codman Neuro, a business that specialises in the treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke.
For spinal surgery, the acquisition of Innovative Surgical Solutions in June by DePuy Synthes Products Inc. would enhance the firm’s ability to locate nerves in a more precise manner.
Janssen Biotech, Inc., a year-end stock pick for 1999.
Centocor Biotech, Inc., the old name of Janssen Biotech, Inc., is a Philadelphia-based biotechnology firm that was established in 1979. Centocor became a publicly listed business in 1982. Johnson & Johnson acquired Centocor in 1999 and turned it into a fully owned subsidiary. Sales at Janssen Biotech have climbed from $500 million to more than $2 billion after the purchase. The investment in R&D went from $75 million to more than $300 million in the same time.
Formed Centocor Ortho Biotech in 2008 by the merger of Centocor and Ortho Biotech. A fully owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Kite Merger Sub, Inc., announced in June 2009 that it will buy all of Cougar Biotechnology, Inc.’s outstanding common stock for $43.00 in cash, or about $970 million. Additionally, in the same year, Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB purchased Amic, a producer of in vitro diagnostics, significantly enhancing the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics branch.
Centocor Ortho Biotech purchased RespiVert, a privately owned drug development business that specialises in developing small-molecule, inhaled medicines for the treatment of pulmonary disorders in June of 2010. With the goal of bringing all of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies under a single umbrella, Centocor Ortho Biotech changed its name to Janssen Biotech, Inc. in June 2011. Co-development of MacroGenics cancer treatment candidate (MGD011), which targets both CD19 and CD3 proteins, was disclosed by the firm in December 2014. MicroGenics might make $700 million from this. For Isis Pharmaceuticals, the agreement may generate up to $835 million in revenue through the use of their RNA-targeting technology to find and develop antisense therapeutics targeting autoimmune illnesses of the gastrointestinal tract in January 2015. An unknown price was paid by Janssen to buy BeneVirBiopharm, Inc. in May 2018.
It was stated in December 2019 that XBiotech Inc. has agreed to pay Janssen Biotech, Inc. $750 million plus an additional $600 million for its new antibody medication (bermekimab) that neutralises interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1).
Ethicon, Inc. is a company.
George F. Merson founded Ethicon Suture Laboratories in 1947 after being purchased by Johnson & Johnson.
Ethicon Inc. was founded in 1953. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. was established as a distinct company in 1992 after a reorganisation of Ethicon. New and innovative goods and technology began to emerge from Ethicon in the 1990s, and as a result, four separate firms were founded under the Ethicon umbrella.
For $1 billion in 2008, J&J announced that it will purchase Mentor Corporation and consolidate its operations with Ethicon.
Ethicon purchased Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. for $438 million in the same year, paying $25 per share.
Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. said it would purchase Guangzhou Bioseal Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a blood clotting developer.
J&J’s Ethicon division announced in March 2016 that it will purchase NeuWave Medical, Inc. Megadyne Medical Products, Inc. was bought by J&J subsidiary Ethicon in January 2017, while Torax Medical was purchased the following month for an unknown price. Fortive Corporation purchased Advanced Sterilization Products for $2.8 billion in June of last year.
For $3.4 billion in cash and over $2.3 billion in contingent payments dependent on performance, Johnson & Johnson announced in February 2019 that Ethicon has agreed to buy surgical robot business Auris Health Inc.
Verily, Alphabet’s bio sciences subsidiary, said in December that it would buy Verb Surgical Inc., a part of which the firm previously owned.
Endo-Surgery Ethicon, Inc.
Until 1992, Ethicon Endo-Surgery was a subsidiary of Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Ethicon Endo-Surgery bought SurgRx, Inc., a company that developed tissue sealing systems, in 2008. SterilMed, Inc. was bought by the company in September of 2011.
Johnson & Johnson purchased Crucell for $2.4 billion in October 2010 and is now using Crucell as their vaccines hub.
Coherex, Medical was bought by Biosense Webster in November 2015, extending the company’s therapy options for atrial fibrillation patients.
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (J&J) stated in July 2016 that it planned to buy Vogue International LLC, a privately owned firm. After the acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics from Abbott Laboratories for $4.325 billion in September of the same year, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. added the new subsidiary to its portfolio.
J&J acquired Swiss pharmaceutical company Actelion in January 2017 after fending off competition from Sanofi. This month J&J unveiled a $30 billion plan to acquire Actelion and spin off its R&D section into a distinct legal entity, the biggest acquisition the corporation has ever undertaken. After the main offer period, Janssen Holding GmbH had 77.2 percent of the voting rights, corresponding to 83,195,346 Actelion shares, which it declared successful in its tender offer for the Swiss biotechnology firm Actelion in March. Actelion’s delisting and the creation of Idorsia Ltd. were both declared by the firm in accordance with past agreements. With convertible notes, J&J will be able to increase their holding in Idorsia to 32 percent.
Neurosurgery firm Codman from Johnson & Johnson for $1.05 billion was purchased by medical device manufacturing company Integra LifeSciences in February of this year.
As recently as July 2017, the FDA approved an office-based method to imaging meibomian glands and treating meibomian gland dysfunction from TearScience, a part of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. (J&JVC).
Sightbox, a subscription-based contact lens provider, was bought by the corporation in September.
Platinum Equity purchased LifeScan, Inc. in March 2018 for a reported $2.1 billion. Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, a maker of 3D-printed titanium interbody implants for spinal fusion surgery, was bought by Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH in September of the same year.
Esketamine, sold under the brand name Spravato by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, received FDA approval in March 2019 for the treatment of severe depression.
A new line of photochromic contact lenses will be available from Johnson & Johnson starting in 2019. To assist the eyes recuperate from strong light exposure, the lenses adapt to sunshine. A photochromic additive in the lenses adjusts the quantity of visible light filtered to the eyes and is the first of its kind.
Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a biotech business, will be purchased by Johnson & Johnson for $6.5 billion in August 2020. “The purchase was prompted by tremendous potential observed in nipocalimab, together with the scientific capacity Janssen is gaining with the Momenta team,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement.
Response to the coronavirus (COVID-19)
As part of a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson & Johnson has invested over $1 billion in the development of a non-profit COVID-19 vaccine (HHS).
As Johnson & Johnson’s Paul Stoffels put it, “Johnson & Johnson’s employees are committed to doing this in order to move quickly, and we all agree that we won’t do it for profit. As a result, we’re firmly committing to making this a non-profit endeavour in the interests of time and efficiency.”
With the help of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Janssen Vaccines is developing a vaccine candidate using the same technology that was used to manufacture its Ebola vaccine. Phase 1 human clinical trials for the vaccine candidate are scheduled to begin in September 2020.
In March 2020, demand for Tylenol was two to four times typical. The corporation responded by increasing output across the world. For instance, the Tylenol manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico was open every day of the week, 24 hours a day.
Ethicon and Prisma Health developed the VESper Ventilator Expansion Splitter, a 3D-printed device that allows a single ventilator to support two patients in response to a ventilator shortage.
COVID-19 VACCINE
With Catalent’s Bloomington plant in April 2020, Johnson & Johnson engaged into a cooperation that will deliver large-scale production for J&J’s vaccine. Catalent’s Italian plant was added to the collaboration in July 2020.
Clinical trials of JNJ’s vaccine are expected to begin in September 2020 with the prospect of Phase 1/2a human clinical trials beginning in the second half of July, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
A total of 300 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be delivered to the United States by the end of July 2020, with 100 million doses being delivered up front and an option for an additional 200 million. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the United States Department of Defense will jointly finance the $1 billion contract.
For the development of 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the United States government agreed to pay Johnson & Johnson (a medical device business) more than $1 billion on August 5th, 2020. US may acquire up to 200 million more SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses as part of the agreement.
Johnson & Johnson will begin a phase 3 adenovirus vaccination study involving 60,000 people in September 2020. On October 12, 2020, the experiment was put on hold after a volunteer became unwell. However, the business found no proof that the vaccination was to blame for the illness and declared on October 23, 2020 that it will restart the trial anyhow.
Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing and Johnson & Johnson agreed in September 2020 to assist the production of their SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, including technology transfer and fill and finish manufacturing.
Johnson & Johnson published an efficacy report on their vaccine’s Phase 3 study on January 29, 2021. According to the statistics, the new vaccination from the firm is 66% successful overall in avoiding moderate to severe forms of COVID-19 in persons who got the injection, and 85% effective in preventing severe forms of the illness compared to Pfizer/or BioNTech’s Moderna’s two-shot therapy.
Worker error at an Emergent BioSolutions facility led to the contamination of about 15 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was manufactured by Johnson & Johnson in March 2021. The mix-up, which the federal government blamed on human error, delayed vaccination supplies in the future.
Johnson and Johnson vaccines were halted from being distributed in April 2021 by federal health regulators because six recipients had had an extremely uncommon blood-clotting disorder.
Six women aged 18 to 48 who had recently received the vaccination were found to have cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (a “rare and severe” blood clot) together with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia).
One lady died and a second woman was hospitalised in serious condition after receiving the vaccine 6–13 days after receiving it, according to reports.
On April 14th, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will gather to evaluate the allegations of these adverse occurrences.
In the first quarter of 2021, sales of the Covid-19 vaccine accounted for less than one percent of the business’s overall revenue, according to a corporate report from April 2021.
As of June 11, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered the destruction of around 60 million J&J vaccine doses from a problematic Baltimore factory. While authorities can’t ensure that Emergent BioSolutions (the firm running the factory) followed appropriate manufacturing methods, a further 10 million dosages from the facility are still approved for distribution.
