THE PM360 TRAILBLAZER AWARDS 2011
PHARMA/BIOTECH COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNER

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

It’s rare to find a company, like Johnson & Johnson, that is a trailblazer today based on commitments to innovation and to helping people get and stay well that were set over a century ago.
“Every child has a right to be born well” was the slogan on Johnson & Johnson’s first booklet about hygiene for expectant mothers, published in 1902. The booklet followed the company’s first-ever maternity kit for home-birthing and the introduction of Johnson’s Baby Powder.

What does this have to do with the company’s selection as 2011 Best Pharma Company of the Year? CEO William Weldon articulates it well: “We have a heritage unlike any other company. Because we are especially privileged to touch mothers at the most intimate moments with their newborn child, we have a bond forged on deep emotional trust.”

In an industry obsessed with change and instantaneous information flow, the commitment to connect, to make a difference in people’s lives has endured and shaped the destiny of the company.

An Enduring Commitment
That commitment is alive today through innovation in the company’s vast array of healthcare products and through creative uses of technology. One example is text4baby, the first-ever free mobile communication health service in the U.S., in which the company is a founding partner with the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, The Wireless Foundation of the CTIA and the White House Office of Science and Technology. Text4baby does exactly what the purse-size 1902 booklet did—provide timely, expert health information for pregnant women and new mothers in a portable, easily accessible form. The program now has over 190,000 subscribers and 500 public and private partners, performing a vital and extraordinary service.

Other mother-baby initiatives include the company’s latest five-year commitment to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals of reducing mortality in women and children. The commitment includes 200 million doses annually of a treatment for intestinal worms in children and programs for childbirth-related illness and infant birth asphyxia. There are also initiatives for midwife training and pediatric AIDS, and a commitment to advance research for new medicines to treat HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

A Global Future
Of course Johnson & Johnson has come a long way from its origins. It’s been a global company for a long time, and has deep roots in the more than 60 countries where it operates. Like many companies, it recognizes the importance of educating local healthcare providers, with more than 25 professional education centers around the world. But the company also recognizes that information flows both ways. It strategically bases R&D centers in emerging markets precisely to develop products based on local insights. The company can also globalize products quickly: When the company first acquired Evicel sealant—a remarkable combination product for control of bleeding—the product was in one country. After one year it was in 10 countries, after two it was in 20.

Remarkably, after 125 years, Johnson & Johnson is still on the cutting edge. The company’s just-released Healthy Future 2015 goals combine its long-standing commitment to decrease its impact on the environment with global health and wellness efforts aimed at touching hundreds of millions of lives affected by diseases of the developing world. The company is ranked 2nd (in all industries) in Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations. And, of course, many of the best and brightest see their future with the company. It is the highest ranking healthcare company in Universum’s list of World's Most Attractive Employers.

–NEXT–

2010 MEDICAL DEVICE COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNER

2010 ADVERTISING AGENCY OF THE YEAR WINNER

2010 SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR WINNER

2010 MARKETER OF THE YEAR WINNER

2010 BRAND MANAGER OF THE YEAR WINNERS

2010 INITIATIVES OF THE YEAR WINNERS

TOP BRAND MANAGERS

2010 PM360 TRAILBLAZER AWARDS PANEL OF JUDGES