Public Opinions: Johnson & Johnson recognized with the Global Responsible Investment Mark of Excellence by Public Opinions at its 135th Anniversary

Johnson and Johnson is a recipient of the Global responsible Investment Mark of Excellence offered by Public Opinions International in appreciation of its contribution towards attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development through offering high quality products, Fighting the Corona Virus Pandemic through its reliable and effective vaccine, supporting productive corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), employing people around the world and protection of environment as well as commitment to International Treaties and Conventions.

As of December 2020, Johnson & Johnson had total revenue of $56.1bn. Revenues of the pharmaceutical division grew by 3.6%, driven by the immunology ($13.95bn) and oncology ($10.69bn) portfolio. J&J expects minor disruption to its pharmaceutical business in 2020 although growth is projected to remain above market growth.

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 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, the consumer division being located in Skillman, New Jersey. The corporation includes some 250 subsidiary companies with operations in 60 countries and products sold in over 175 countries. Johnson & Johnson had worldwide sales of $82.6 billion during calendar year 2020. Johnson & Johnson’s brands include numerous household names of medications and first aid supplies. Among its well-known consumer products are the Band-Aid Brand line of bandages, Tylenol medications, Johnson’s Baby products, Neutrogena skin and beauty products, Clean & Clear facial wash and Acuvue contact lenses. Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical arm is Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The top individual shareholders of Johnson and Johnson include CEO, Alex Gorsky—the largest shareholder with 2.9 million shares,Joaquin Duato—J&J’s executive vice president—is the second-largest individual shareholder with 916,576 shares.

J&J developed the COVID-19 vaccine through the Ad26® vector technology and PER.C6® manufacturing platform and of recent,it has donated the vaccine to so many countries around the world including the United Republic of Tanzania.The vaccine candidate was announced in March 2020 and entered pre-manufacturing in June 2020. Clinical trials were commenced in September 2020.

Robert Wood Johnson the founder of Johnson and 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 Newyork. 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. Robert Wood Johnson joined his brothers, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson, 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.

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.

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 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

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 to meet demand. Near the end of World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic 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 became president of the company in 1932.

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.

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

Janssen Biotech, Inc., formerly known as Centocor Biotech, Inc., is a biotechnology company that was founded in Philadelphia in 1979. In 1982, Centocor transitioned into a publicly traded company. In 1999, Centocor became a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Since the acquisition, Janssen Biotech increased its annual sales from $500 million to more than $2 billion. During the same period, research and development investment increased from $75 million to more than $300 million.

In 2008, Centocor, Inc. and Ortho Biotech Inc. merged to form Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. In June 2009, Johnson & Johnson, through a new wholly owned subsidiary, Kite Merger Sub, Inc., announced it would purchase all outstanding shares of common stock of Cougar Biotechnology, Inc $970 million.In the same year, Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB acquired Amic, developer of in vitro diagnostic, further strengthening the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics division.

In June 2010, Centocor Ortho Biotech acquired RespiVert, a privately held drug discovery company focused on developing small-molecule, inhaled therapies for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. In June 2011, Centocor Ortho Biotech changed its name to Janssen Biotech, Inc as part of a global effort to unite the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies around the world under a common identity.

In December 2014, the company announced that it would co-develop MacroGenics cancer drug candidate (MGD011) which targets both CD19 and CD3 proteins in treating B-cell malignant tumours. This could net MacroGenics up to $700 million. In January 2015, the company announced that it will utilize Isis Pharmaceuticals’ RNA-targeting technology to discover and develop antisense drugs targeting autoimmune disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, with the partnership potentially generating up to $835 million for Isis.

In May 2018, Janssen announced that it would acquire BeneVir Biopharm, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. In December 2019, XBiotech Inc. announced that it would sell its novel antibody treatment (bermekimab) that neutralizes interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1⍺) to Janssen Biotech, Inc. for $750 million plus up to a further $600 million.

Johnson & Johnson acquired George F. Merson’s company in 1947, and it was renamed Ethicon Suture Laboratories. In 1953 this became Ethicon Inc. In 1992, Ethicon was restructured, and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc became a separate corporation. During the 1990s, Ethicon diversified into new and advanced products and technologies and formed four different companies under the Ethicon umbrella, each of which specializes in different products.

In 2008, J&J announced it would acquire Mentor Corporation for $1 billion and merge its operations into Ethicon. In the same year, Ethicon acquired Omrix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. for $25 per share or $438 million in total. In May 2012, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd announced it would acquire surgery blood clotting developer known as Guangzhou Bioseal Biotechnology Co.Ltd. In March 2016, J&Js Ethicon business unit announced it would acquire NeuWave Medical, Inc. In January 2017, J&J subsidiary Ethicon announced it would acquire Megadyne Medical Products, Inc. and the next month it acquired Torax Medical for an undisclosed sum. In June 2018, the business announced that Advanced Sterilization Products would be sold off to Fortive Corporation for around $2.8 billion.

In February 2019, Johnson & Johnson announced that Ethicon had agreed to acquire surgical robotic company, Auris Health Inc, for $3.4 billion in cash and over $2.3 billion in contingent payments based on performance. In December of the same year, the company announced it would acquire the portion of Verb Surgical Inc that it did not already own, from Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences division

In October 2010, J&J acquired Crucell for $2.4 billion and will operate as the centre for vaccines, within the wider Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals group.

In November 2015, Biosense Webster, Inc. acquired Coherex, Medical Inc. expanding the companies range of treatment options for patients with atrial fibrillation.

In July 2016, J&J announced its intention to acquire the privately held company, Vogue International LLC, boosting Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. In September of the same year, J&J announced it would acquire Abbott Medical Optics from Abbott Laboratories for $4.325 billion, adding the new division into Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.

In January 2017, J&J fought off competition from Sanofi to acquire Swiss drugmaker Actelion. Later in the month J&J announced a $30 billion deal, the largest ever pursued by the company to purchase the Swiss company Actelion and to spin off its research and development unit, into a separate legal entity. In March, the company declared its tender offer for Swiss biotechnology company Actelion successful reporting that Janssen Holding GmbH controlled 77.2 percent of the voting rights after the main offer period equating to 83,195,346 Actelion shares. In keeping with earlier agreements, the company announced its intention to delist Actelion, while creating the Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company; Idorsia Ltd. J&J will control 16% of Idorsia, with the ability to raise their stake to 32% through convertible notes.

In July 2017, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc announced that its Abbott Medical Optics subsidiary would acquire TearScience, who recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for an office-based approach to imaging meibomian glands and treating meibomian gland dysfunction. In September, the company acquired subscription-based contact lens startup Sightbox.

In March 2018, the company announced that LifeScan, Inc. would be sold off to Platinum Equity for around $2.1 billion. 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 for the treatment of severe depression which is marketed as Spravato 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 August 2020, it was announced that Johnson & Johnson is set to buy the biotech company Momenta Pharmaceuticals for $6.5 billion. In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said, “The acquisition was driven by the significant opportunity seen in nipocalimab, along with the scientific capability Janssen is acquiring with the Momenta team

Coronavirus (COVID-19) response

Johnson & Johnson committed over $1 billion towards the development of a not-for-profit COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (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 (BIDMC), is responsible for developing the vaccine candidate, based on the same technology used to make its Ebola vaccine. The vaccine candidate entered phase 1 human clinical study in September 2020.

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.

In April 2020, Johnson & Johnson entered a partnership with Catalent who will provide large-scale manufacturing of J&J’s vaccine at Catalent’s Bloomington facility.The partnership was expanded to include Catalent’s Italian facility in July 2020.

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.

In July 2020, Johnson & Johnson pledged to deliver up to 300 million doses of its vaccine to the U.S., with 100 million upfront and an option for 200 million more. The deal, worth more than $1 billion, was funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the U.S. Defense Department.

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-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 September 2020, Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing agreed with Johnson & Johnson, to support the manufacture of its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate, including technology transfer and fill and finish manufacture.

On 29 January 2021, Johnson & Johnson released an efficacy report that is based on data from the Phase 3 trial of its vaccine According to the data, the company’s new vaccine, which is a single shot compared to Pfizer/BioNTech’s or Moderna’s two-shot treatment, is 66% effective overall regarding preventing moderate to severe forms of COVID-19 in people who received the shot, and 85% effective regarding its ability to prevent severe forms of the disease.

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.

Johnson and Johnson is credited for its committed to attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Awarded by Public Opinions International,5^th Floor, Room 7 Iampala House, Opposite City Hall Kampala Capital Authority,Kimathi Avenue kampala Uganda, Web: www.publicopinions.net, Tel: +256701992426