Johnson & Johnson

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Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Johnson & Johnson. All rights reserved.

Johnson & Johnson is the world’s second largest drug and biotechnology company by market capitalization, behind Eli Lilly (LLY) but ahead of other “big pharma” competitors such as AbbVie (ABBV), Novartis (NVS), and Merck (MRK). Once known for household products like Band-Aid and Tylenol, its consumer brands were split off into a separate company, Kenvue (KVUE), in 2023, so Johnson & Johnson could focus on the prescription medication and biotech market.

Johnson & Johnson is split into two segments.

Innovative Medicine focuses on pharmaceuticals used in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiopulmonary, and specialty ophthalmology. Popular prescription drugs by Johnson & Johnson include plaque psoriasis medicines Stelara and Tremfya, blood cancer treatments Darzalex and Imbruvica, and Erleada, an androgen receptor inhibitor used in the treatment of prostate cancer. 

MedTech focuses on treatments and medical devices in the areas of cardiovascular health, orthopedics, surgery, and vision. Sub-brands include DePuy Synthes (orthopedics); Abiomed (circulatory support devices); Biosense Webster (heart rhythm treatments); Cerenovus (stroke and neurovascular care); Shockwave Medical (heart health); Ethicon (surgical equipment); Mentor (breast implants); and Johnson & Johnson Vision (which makes Acuvue contact lenses).

Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 by Robert Wood Johnson, alongside his brothers, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. The first factory was located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. As a young man, Robert had apprenticed at his family’s pharmacy, Wood & Tittamer, in Poughkeepsie, New York. There, he learned to create medicated plasters, a popular 19th century remedy consisting of adhesive patches that delivered medication through the skin. He then moved to New York City, where he worked as a pharmaceutical wholesaler.

Before founding the company, Robert had visited the 1876 world’s fair in Philadelphia, where he attended a talk by Dr. Joseph Lister on his new approach to surgery that involved sterilization of tools and antiseptic dressings. The company’s first products built on Lister’s innovations, manufacturing sterilized surgical products such as gauze, absorbent cotton, surgical sponges, and sutures.

In 1889, Frederick B. Kilmer joined the company as its scientific director. Kilmer helped industrialize steam sterilization to mass-sterilize the company’s products. In 1894, the company introduced maternity kits to help make at-home childbirth safer, as well as one of its most famous (and later infamous) products: baby powder.

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An idea that stuck.

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

The company’s main entry to the consumer market came in the early 1920s with the invention of the Band-Aid, a self-adhesive bandage. Earle Dickson, a cotton buyer for the company, came up with the idea after watching his wife struggle with keeping the traditional gauze and tape adhesive on her fingers while she was cooking in the kitchen. Dickson soon became the vice president of the company.

Sales picked up in the mid-1920s when the Band-Aid was included in a first-aid kit for the Boy Scouts of America (although it wasn’t until the 1950s that Johnson & Johnson would start creating decorative Band-Aids marketed toward children).

In 1932, Robert Wood Johnson II became the company’s chairman. A decade later, he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as head of the Smaller War Plants Corporation, where he oversaw wartime contracts for U.S. factories with fewer than 500 employees. The company went public in 1944, with annual sales of about $95 million.

Johnson & Johnson acquired pharmaceutical company McNeil Laboratories in the late 1950s, and by 1961, Johnson & Johnson was selling McNeil’s top drug, Tylenol (acetaminophen), as an over-the-counter painkiller. That same year, it acquired Belgian company Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Tylenol became the basis for one of the company’s biggest controversies in 1982, when several Chicago-area individuals died after consuming Extra Strength Tylenol that had been laced with potassium cyanide (although exactly how and by whom they were laced remains a mystery). The company promptly halted production and initiated a massive recall of 31 million bottles of the drug. To prevent similar incidents, the company introduced tamper-evident packaging with a plastic strip, child-proof cap, foil seal, and cotton wad.

Another major controversy came in 1997, this time involving one of the company’s flagship products: Johnson’s Baby Powder, which used talc to absorb moisture and reduce rash-inducing friction. Concerns over the safety of talc came as early as the 1970s, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was considering limits on the amount of asbestos allowed in cosmetic talc. The company told the FDA that there was no asbestos in its talc, although reports later surfaced that the company had in fact found asbestos in several laboratory tests.

In the years that followed, the company faced a growing number of lawsuits from individuals who claimed the product caused cancer, including mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. Although early cases were dropped or dismissed, the legal pressure intensified over time. In 2020, the company removed talc-based baby powders from the U.S. and Canadian markets, and in 2024, it agreed to a $700 million settlement to resolve a nationwide class action over the safety of its talc products.

The company completed two major acquisitions in the late 1990s: orthopedics company DePuy in 1998 in a deal valued at $3.5 billion, and biotechnology company Centocor in 1999 at $4.9 billion. In 2012, the company completed its acquisition of Swiss orthopedics company Synthes for about $21 billion, which combined with DePuy to become DePuy Synthes. In 2017, it acquired Swiss biotech company Actelion for a $30 billion cash deal, as well as eye health company Abbott Medical Optics for $4.3 billion.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson & Johnson developed a one-shot vector vaccine through its Janssen subsidiary. However, mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna proved to be more popular, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine ceased to be available in the U.S. after May 2023.

In 2021, the company said it would split into two independent companies. A newly formed company would sell consumer brands including Band-Aid, medication brands Tylenol and Benadryl, and hygiene brands Listerine and Neutrogena, while Johnson & Johnson focused exclusively on research and marketing of prescription medication and medical equipment.

The consumer health division was spun off as Kenvue in 2023, following an initial public offering the previous year. Johnson & Johnson completed the separation later in 2023. During this time, Janssen was renamed Innovative Medicine, and the company’s medical technology businesses, including DePuy Synthes, were grouped under the MedTech umbrella. In late 2025, Johnson & Johnson said it planned to spin off DePuy Synthes into a standalone company within 18 to 24 months, continuing a multiyear effort to streamline operations. Namal Nawana, former CEO of medical technology company Smith & Nephew, was named to lead the new business.

As Johnson & Johnson prepared to split off its consumer health business, it was also entangled in nationwide litigation over its alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic. In 2021, the company joined drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson in a $26 billion settlement agreement, with Johnson & Johnson contributing $5 billion. In 2024, it reached a separate $149 million settlement with the state of Washington to resolve similar claims.

In late 2025, Texas sued Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, alleging that the companies failed to warn consumers about the possible links between Tylenol use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Both companies denied the allegations, saying the claims were unsupported by scientific evidence.

By capitalizing on the growing demand for antiseptic medical supplies, Johnson & Johnson evolved into a global leader in health care. Although it has faced legal challenges related to product safety and business practices—and has since spun off the consumer division behind many of its most iconic brands—the company has remained a dominant force in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, continuing to outpace many of its competitors.