The Wall Street Journal published a story yesterday on executive changes at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies, and the Company has responded with the following letter to the editor from Ray Jordan, Vice President of Public Affairs and Corporate Communication for Johnson & Johnson:

January 31, 2012

Dear Editor of The Wall Street Journal,

In reporting on recent departures at the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies (“J&J Shakes Up McNeil Unit Again”), your article got only some of the facts right, and the overall story wrong. Patrick Mutchler, to whom the President of our McNeil Consumer Healthcare business reported, chose to retire from Johnson & Johnson after 35 years of exemplary service to the company.  You inaccurately connected the departure of another senior executive, Pericles Stamatiades, to Mr. Mutchler’s retirement even though he had no direct responsibility for the McNeil business.

Through their contributions to our business, the leaders they have developed, and the many friends they made at Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Mutchler and Mr. Stamatiades have left an extraordinary legacy, and we will miss them. Perhaps most important, however, is the fact that McNeil Consumer Healthcare today remains under the same strong leadership of President Denice Torres, who stepped into her role last April.  The company continues to move forward confidently under her guidance.

Sincerely,

Raymond Jordan
Vice President, Public Affairs & Corporate Communication
Johnson & Johnson

Yesterday, we announced that Johnson & Johnson and the AOL-Huffington Post have launched an exciting new partnership called Global Motherhood. This partnership will give us the opportunity to share stories from many of our philanthropic programs, highlighting the outstanding work that our partner organizations do to make a difference in the lives of women and children around the world.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog on the Huffington Post, the launch of the Global Motherhood partnership offered the opportunity to share my quiet but long-held belief that the world revolves around mothers. As I visit villages, cities, townships, and remote rural areas in low- and middle-resource countries, I’m struck by the power of mothers as champions for the health and survival of their children, their families and, by extension, their communities. And I am touched and inspired by the dedication of the many people and organizations working to bring better health to mothers and children — including our partners like mothers2mothers, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Water.org and Tostan. These organizations demonstrate every day how community-based health education, basic health care and counseling, providing a foundation for girls to grow and learn, and training skilled birth attendants make an immediate and profound difference to women and children globally.

The stories behind the tireless work of these organizations often go untold. That’s one of the reasons that AOL-The Huffington Post and Johnson & Johnson have collaborated to create this forum focused on global motherhood and create a place to share ideas and experiences for improving maternal and child health. By highlighting the health issues facing women around the world, we will all learn more about what is working, why it is working, and how together we can do a better job addressing the most challenging issues.

A healthy world starts with healthy mothers. We hope that the Global Motherhood section will give voice to the people and organizations that are making a difference and inspire others to join in this effort. We invite you to visit that section often to read more about the featured organizations and about how you can become more involved.

Stories in this episode include an interview with Tina Sharkey, Global President and Chairman of BabyCenter, LLC, about the shared commitment to mothers and children and the new MAMA partnership;  a look at a high tech 3-D navigation system from one of our operating companies that provides views of the heart’s electrical activity; and the answers to the question posed to our worldwide employees in the last ennTV episode:  how do you hope people will describe the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies in the future…in three words or less?

Here’s the full episode:

And here are longer versions of each story:

BabyCenter:

The 3-D navigation system:

And how employees describe our company in the future in just three words:

Enjoy!

Mr. Weldon also reaffirmed the company’s commitment to Our Credo throughout the interview and described its significant role within our culture and our decentralized business model.

Here’s the full interview with Mr. Weldon at CNBC’s website:

Click here to watch the full interview

For additional perspectives on our approach to access to medicines and the Medicines Patent Pool, please click here.

Anyone familiar with our Company knows that our responsibility and commitment are always focused on the needs of patients.

This is more than a belief; it’s a way of life for my Global Access & Partnerships team. For people living with HIV in resource-limited countries, we work diligently to increase access and affordability for our HIV medicines.  We license our HIV medicines to generic companies to ensure they will be broadly available, and we operate our Global Access program on a not-for-profit basis.  We have a comprehensive effort to improve the health of women and children in the developing world, part of which is helping to ensure that no child is born with HIV. We are also working on a portfolio of child-friendly formulations of our HIV medicines so that kids living with HIV will have more treatment options.

And our greatest responsibility is ensuring we meet the needs of HIV patients today and for the future.

Earlier this year, we responded to a formal invitation from the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to begin negotiations to grant licenses to the patents for our HIV medicines. We expressed confidence that our direct agreements with quality generic manufacturers were providing the best route to expand access to patients in need.  After thorough deliberation and discussion, we continue to believe that this is the best approach to providing access to our HIV drugs today, so we have decided not to enter into negotiations with the MPP. Let me tell you why.

Our access efforts are working. Through our nine licensing agreements with generic manufacturers we are effectively and responsibly meeting the needs for our HIV medicines in resource-limited countries; five of these agreements include the rights to develop fixed-dose combinations. And we are collaborating with researchers to study further how our medicines can be used best to help patients in developing countries and providing medical education to ensure our medicines are used appropriately in these settings.

Some have suggested that sharing our IP with the MPP will immediately save the lives of tens of thousands or even millions of people living with HIV. But sadly, that is not the case. Our HIV medicines are not included in the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for HIV treatment in resource-limited settings. In these settings, providing HIV medicines for patients new to treatment (“first-line”) remains the top public health priority today; outside of the Americas, 97% of people receiving HIV treatment are on first-line. In resource-limited countries our HIV medicines are indicated for treatment-experienced patients (“third-line”). Treatment of 3rd-line patients is generally limited to a small number of “centers of excellence” where physicians have the specialist knowledge and access to HIV drug resistance testing needed to ensure the appropriate use of HIV drug combinations. These drugs are often the last option for patients. We remain concerned that the model put forth by the MPP could foster more widespread use of inappropriate combinations of these drugs of “last resort” that could adversely impact the future of HIV treatment globally.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve been asked a few questions about how the patent pool and intellectual property (IP) affect access to medicines.  I believe a few key issues are sometimes overlooked in this debate. First, it’s important to remember that the MPP is just one potential mechanism to share the IP, or patents, of HIV medicines – and that the MPP does not directly provide or manufacture HIV medicines for resource-limited countries.

Secondly, our intellectual property is not a barrier to access. We already proactively license our IP to responsible generic manufacturers, innovator pharmaceutical companies, and product development partnerships. But HIV drug access requires more than just intellectual property and reduced prices – it also requires registration of our medicines with local health authorities, supply capability, quality products and safety monitoring.  Our licensing agreements help provide these essential elements.

Effective HIV drug access requires a commitment to ensure that quality, affordable and safe medicines, used properly and safely. That is at the heart of our access efforts.

Over my past 30 years with the Company I have seen firsthand our impact in improving the lives of patients. This has never been more apparent than in our work to address HIV.

By Abraham Wright, Senior Project Engineer, Product Development, DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company

Water is essential to daily life: we use it to wash our dishes and clothes, to take a shower, and to drink. For me, I’m lucky to have access to clean water every day, which is pumped directly into my home, so all I have to do is turn on the tap. For many people living in the Central African Republic, water is gathered in springs, rivers, ponds and even puddles, and carried in buckets for miles, and is not sanitary.

About six years ago, I became involved in a non-profit organization, Integrated Community Development International, which attempts to change this situation by drilling wells in the Central African Republic with the aim of providing pure, safe drinking water.  These wells use a hand pump to bring the water out of the ground.  Unfortunately, due to low water tables in central Africa, some of the wells are 300 to 400 feet deep and the hand pumps that are commercially available are not sufficient.

Installing the pipe for one of the new wells

In response to this problem, I engaged a group of engineers that I work with at DePuy Orthopaedics, part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, along with engineers in Ohio and Kansas, to volunteer their time to develop a pump that could provide access to clean water when the water is too deep for standard hand pumps.  We developed a progressive cavity pump (PCP) that is potentially able to lift water from depths up to 500 feet.

Assembling a pump for one of the wells

This project began more than a year ago and took hundreds of hours of our personal time in order to develop a properly working pump that could best serve the people of central Africa. This summer, my colleagues, Mark Heldreth and Greg Bixler, traveled to Africa to evaluate the current pumps and test the new replacement pumps at two sites: an under-producing pump at an orphanage in Berberati and an inoperable pump in the village of Yamando.  Here’s a link to more information and video of the trip.

“The goal of our summer trip was to remove the old pumps and install the new ones to see if they worked or if the designs needed to be modified,” said Mark Heldreth. “We learned the pump designs needed further adjustments. This month we are excited to get the pump working in the village of Yamando.”

The project isn’t over now that the team has returned to the United States. We continue to obtain long-term feedback and test data from Africa, which will assist us as we start the second phase of this project, which includes redesigning the pump based on what we learn to make it most effective and affordable for mass production. We plan to return as soon as summer 2012 with the new version of the pump to install in several villages in the Central African Republic.

It’s easy to take the little things for granted like being able to quench my thirst with a sip of water without leaving the comforts of my home. Knowing that the fruits of our labor have provided water to one village and will provide water to many villages in the near future has been a great experience for me and the rest of the team.

One of the wells providing access to clean drinking water

Here’s the link to a video about the Integrated Community Development International Water Project.

From Husseini K. Manji, M.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head for Neuroscience, Janssen Research & Development, LLC.

We’re on the cusp of a golden age for neuroscience. We’re probing deeper into the intricacies of the brain and beginning to see novel ideas translate into better lives for millions of people.

But to discover the next revolutionary idea, we need to come together as a field – government, academia and industry – and share knowledge, data, tools and models to enhance our understanding of disease biology, identify new treatment targets, develop new diagnostics and improve outcomes for patients with disease.

I’ve been involved in neuroscience research for more than 18 years, first at the National Institutes of Health and now at J&J, and I have experienced firsthand the decline in federal and industry support and the fragmentation of research between industry and academia, both of which have slowed the pace of progress. The science continues to be complicated and difficult, and navigating the road to solutions will require greater collaboration and cooperation. What is clear is that no single entity can get to the next great breakthrough working alone.

Fortunately, several recent initiatives are helping to advance funding and more effective methods for working together.

Earlier this month, both houses of Congress approved with bipartisan support an initiative developed by Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) that will make neuroscience research a top federal priority.

Also this month, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced the launch of Healthy Minds, a significant new commitment to neuroscience-focused organizations, collaborative research initiatives and public education and awareness-building activities. Healthy Minds represents how strongly we believe that the solutions to disorders of the brain can be found through science if we continue to invest in new research and partnerships, all while working together more effectively.

Healthy Minds’ flagship commitment is the contribution of up to $3 million to the International Mental Health Research Organization (IMHRO) (www.imhro.org), to support One Mind for Research (1mind4research.org), a program of IMHRO committed to creating a united effort to advance translational research for mental health. One Mind for Research is strongly aligned with our vision that collaborative innovation and public private partnership is the most effective way to speed development of new approaches to preventing and treating disorders of the brain.

Through Healthy Minds, our goal is to leverage our 50+ year heritage in neuroscience research through innovative partnerships that help to develop new research programs, expand data sharing among scientists and physicians focused on the brain or central nervous system, break down barriers to understanding the molecular and cellular origins of mental and neurologic disorders, and help combat the stigma faced by those affected by brain diseases.

And it’s just the beginning. The human mind is vastly and minutely complex, and we understand only a fraction of how the brain works with its web of neurons and neurotransmitters, how to achieve complete brain health or what goes wrong when disease manifests. What we know is that the brain is the command center for the entire human body, the locus of “the mind” and the place where everything that makes humans unique is found. In some ways, our very existence and that of our children and grandchildren are dependent on solving the mysteries of the brain. What better investment could there be? Investing in the brain is an investment in humanity and ultimately, in our future.

For more information about our Healthy Minds initiative, I invite you to review today’s article in The Washington Post that discusses Healthy Minds and our contribution to improving mental health for soldiers and veterans or watch our video that illustrates what this initiative is all about.

December 1st is World AIDS Day. With 2011 marking  30 years since the Centers for Disease Control made the first mention of the disease  that would come to be known HIV, this anniversary is especially poignant. Johnson & Johnson and our Family of Companies remain committed to the prevention, detection, education and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and I wanted to share with you some of those ongoing efforts.

In our commitment to HIV prevention, care and support, Johnson & Johnson’s Corporate Contributions group partners with organizations working both globally and locally in over 100 programs.  For example:

•    Employing HIV-positive mothers to mentor newly-diagnosed HIV-positive pregnant women in South Africa.
•    Enhancing the leadership and management skills of domestic AIDS Service Organizations to improve service delivery.
•    Teaching kids in Zimbabwe about HIV prevention through fun and engaging soccer drills. Linking HIV-positive individuals to care in China.
•    Using village savings and loan groups in Malawi as a forum to teach men and women about HIV/AIDS and health.
•    Supporting orphans and vulnerable children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in communities around the world.

These are just a few of the innovative and meaningful domestic and global programs that Johnson & Johnson supports.

Today,  Janssen U.K. launched its Janssen in HIV YouTube channel  in order to share videos and raise awareness. Our own Johnson & Johnson Health Channel on YouTube features a playlist of videos titled The Journey: Living with HIV. These insightful videos offer a look at how four individuals – Chad, Hattie, Andre and Daniel – were able to overcome many of the barriers to care that people with HIV/AIDS face.

EnnTV, our video news magazine for employees, premiered its third episode  today, which focuses on World AIDS Day. The episode features an interview with Dr. Paul Stoffels, Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, as well as segments on the Research & Development teams from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and Tibotec NV, and a look at the Princeton in Africa program, a program that Johnson & Johnson supports.

15 years after our operating company Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (OCD) introduced the first test kit to screen blood for antigens to HIV-1, the virus that is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS cases in the U.S., OCD is continuing to make products that help in HIV detection. These products are important in helping making transfusion medicine safer and more efficient, helping to keep the blood supply safe for patients.

World AIDS Day serves as a reminder that while significant progress has been made in the global battle against HIV/AIDS, there is still much more to be done. We are proud of Johnson & Johnson’s legacy of leadership in this fight, humbled by our partners’ tireless efforts, and inspired by the passion, innovation, and commitment of those who continue to be involved.

November is National Caregivers Month in the United States and also National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.  According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, as many as 36 million people worldwide are living with dementia and that number is expected to double every 20 years. The worldwide cost of dementia amounts to more than 1 percent of global GDP or $604 billion US dollars and in the United States, an estimated 10.9 million unpaid caregivers see to the daily needs of people with Alzheimer’s.   

These are staggering numbers that are hard to put into perspective, but sometimes the societal and human impact of this devastating and fatal disease is better put into context through the personal experience of someone with a family member who suffers from Alzheimer’s. 

I am privileged to work with one such individual – Alan Arnette, an Alzheimer’s disease advocate who has combined his passion for mountain climbing with advocacy through the 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer’s:  Memories are Everything.  The 7 Summits is a public awareness campaign that that shines a light on the need for more research, education and urgency to address Alzheimer’s (Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy is a sponsor of this campaign).  We’d like to pay tribute to the millions of families touched by the disease and share with you Alan Arnette’s personal story.  If you’re interested in learning more about the campaign, you can visit the website at www.climb4ad.com.

From Alan Arnette –

My mom seemed to change overnight, but actually her changes were so gradual we had not noticed. Mom was our families’ memory keeper. She organized family gatherings; she was the glue that held the family together. Then over breakfast one day, she politely asked me, “Now, who are you?”  I smiled at her lovingly and explained that she had two sons and I was the youngest, and that her husband of almost 60 years was near death. She simply smiled, not convinced, and we continued breakfast. I shuddered inside with the realization that my mom was not aging, she was sick. 

My mother, Ida Arnette, passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2009 after an eight year struggle with the disease. As I watched her go through the stages of memory loss, inability to care for herself, loss of identity and finally her life, I knew I had to do something. As a caregiver, I was very unprepared for this disease and knew little about it. Had I known then what I know now, I might have made some different choices along the journey. The experience did show me that there is an urgent need for more education on the disease, heightened awareness, improved treatments and, obviously, a cure through increased funding for research.

I have been climbing big mountains for more than 15 years and have a loyal following on my personal website where I chronicle my adventures. As I considered how I could make a meaningful impact for Alzheimer’s, I believed combining a global campaign with a huge climbing goal would be an effective way to raise awareness about the growing prevalence of the disease and the enormous personal and financial burden it places on people with the disease, their family caregivers and society.  

I have often said about climbing that there are a thousand reasons to turn around and only a few to keep going. As I made slow progress ever higher toward the summit of Everest, I was not going to stop. I was going to scream from the top of the world that Alzheimer’s is a disease that takes lives and we need to find a cure. Now after eight climbs, more than 13.5 million people have heard that cry as a part of The 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer’s: Memories are Everything campaign.

For the second consecutive year, Johnson & Johnson was the primary sponsor for the Social Health track at BlogWorld and New Media Expo, held November 3-5, 2011 in Los Angeles.  The event, which attracts attendees interested in emerging trends in social media and digital technology, has been a rich and rewarding opportunity for us to connect with patients, physicians, nurses, caregivers, advocates and digital health organizations looking to find information, share ideas, and most importantly – connect with others who want to affect change in healthcare.

As the newest member of the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Social Media team, I had the pleasure of attending this year’s event and found it to be a great introduction to what’s going on in the space.  I came away inspired by the passion and depth of speakers and attendees, and impressed by the lively and interactive discussions about challenges, successes and best practices from patients, practitioners and advocates for use of social media to advance healthcare.  Conversations ranged from privacy and rules of the road, to brainstorms about authenticity and making sure relevant, credible information rises to the top of searches for patients who need it.  We captured a range of opinions and perspectives about where we’ve been and where we should go next with social health.  

Special thanks to our presenters and facilitators:

• Patient bloggers Kerri Sparling, Jenni Prokopy, and Katie Loeb, who with the help of Russ Stark from Brownstone, talked about what companies can do to help support patients’ needs.  
• Shwen Gwee (@schwen) from Edelman, who shared insights from the Edelman Health Barometer.
• Nurses and e-content creators Kim McAllister, Jamie Davis, and Terri Polick, who urged fellow healthcare bloggers to understand – not fear! — the rules of patient privacy as they apply to blogging, tweeting or podcasting. 
• Medhelp President John De Souza, Enoch Choi, MD (@enochchoi), and Rob Halper from Johnson & Johnson, who with the facilitation of David Tripi from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, shared some examples of digital applications and tools that can be used to change behavior and improve health. 
• Sean Ahrens, e-patient and designer & developer of Crohnology, and Ignite Health’s Fabio Gratton, who participated in a discussion led by Mark Bard from Digital Health Coalition about guidance for companies who want to participate in the online space. 
• Digitally engaged physicians Dr. Jen Dyer, Nick Genes, MD and Dr. Val Jones, who were led by Health in 30’s Barbara Ficarra in a conversation about how doctors can successfully engage with patients online. 
• Edelman Digital’s David Armano and MDM Consulting founder Marc Monseau (@MDMonseau), who led a follow up to last year’s highly successful whiteboard session, capturing the ideas of the group in images to share and stimulate further discussion.
• Social media thought leaders Scott Monty from Ford (@ScottMonty), Shannon Paul from Blue Cross, Blue Shield Michigan (@shannonpaul) and John LaPuma, MD, Paging Dr. LaPuma, guided by Dakila Davina from Everyday Health, who looked at what the healthcare industry can learn from social media models in other industries.

Although our crowd was small, our collective voice was big! I returned to New Jersey with a firm belief in the power of social communities and tools to advance public health, improve patient outcomes and facilitate better relationships between patients, physicians and, ultimately, everyone involved in healthcare.

The conversations have continued over the past few weeks, and the spark of what began in the room has continued to glow among those who see the potential to change the way we practice and consume healthcare.  We’re looking forward to continuing the dialogue with the participants of this year’s track and creating more conversation forums like this one to generate ideas and move ahead.  As one of our sessions pointed out, we are all patients, and we all have a stake in making healthcare better.